Patent ID: 11898856
Assignee: GM CRUISE HOLDINGS LLC
Field: Measurement (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G  B  Y | IPC B  G

Claim 2:
3. A system for long distance rides in a vehicle fleet, comprising:
a fleet of autonomous vehicles including a first autonomous vehicle and a second autonomous vehicle; and
a central computing system including a routing coordinator configured to:
receive a route request for a passenger ride including pick-up location and a destination;
determine that a distance associated with the route request is further than an autonomous vehicle of the fleet of autonomous vehicles can drive without recharging;
provide a user interface for the route request for selection between a price-optimization preference and a time-optimization preference, wherein the price-optimization includes pausing the passenger ride for a selected period of time to recharge a vehicle battery and wherein the time-optimization preference includes switching to a second autonomous vehicle;
receive a user selection to pause the ride for the selected period of time to recharge the vehicle battery;
identify a plurality of charging station waypoints for pausing the ride;
identify a plurality of stop locations, each of the plurality of stop locations near at least one of the plurality of charging station waypoints, wherein the plurality of stop locations include one of a restaurant, a shopping center, a playground, a park, and a beach;
provide a ride incentive for routes to a first city in order to rebalance the fleet of autonomous vehicles, wherein providing the ride incentive includes providing, via the user interface, for each of the plurality of stop locations, a coupon for an associated activity at or near the respective stop location;
receive a user stop location selection including one of the plurality of stop locations;
identify a selected charging station waypoint of the plurality of charging station waypoints, wherein the selected charging station waypoint corresponds to the stop location selection;
identify a first autonomous vehicle from the fleet of autonomous vehicles that has sufficient charge to drive to the pick-up location, from the pick-up location to the selected stop location, and from the stop location to the selected charging station waypoint;
assign the route request to the first autonomous vehicle;
route the first autonomous vehicle to the pick-up location for passenger pick-up;
route the first autonomous vehicle to the stop location for passenger drop-off;
route the first autonomous vehicle from the stop location to the selected charging station waypoint for recharging;
route the first autonomous vehicle back from the selected charging station waypoint to the stop location for passenger pick-up; and
route the first autonomous vehicle to the destination.