Patent Publication Number: US-2022215336-A1

Title: Systems and Methods for Mixed-Use Delivery of People and Packages using Autonomous Vehicles and Machines

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This is an international application that claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/845,194, filed May 8, 2019 and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/845,220, also filed May 8, 2019, both of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates generally to systems and methods to conduct local or city-wide pickup and delivery of packages or other items using autonomous vehicles and machines. In certain embodiments it is also contemplated that the systems and methods disclosed herein are configured to be mixed use wherein a single vehicle can accommodate both package delivery and passenger transit simultaneously. 
     In today&#39;s world, packages that are to be delivered long distances are picked up from the sender&#39;s house or office by a carrier, dropped at a collection point controlled by the carrier or otherwise delivered to a sorting facility generally located near the collection point. After being indexed or otherwise catalogued, the packages are transported by airplane, ship, rail or tractor-trailer truck from the sorting facility to another such facility at a location much closer to the ultimate destination of the package. Once there, the packages are sorted into smaller groups based on destination location and are ultimately placed on a manned delivery vehicle for actual delivery. 
     While the sorting process employs an automated process that is well-established and efficient, what is less well-established and less efficient is the so-called “last-mile logistics” involving pickup and delivery between the sorting facilities and the destination of the package. While sophisticated route planning algorithms are used to optimize the delivery or, in some cases, the pickup route, there are still many inefficiencies in the manner in which the package is dropped off or picked up. Human beings, who sometimes get lost, injured, sick or disinterested, and must work limited hours, are needed to drive the truck to the pickup or destination address and carry the correct package to or from the doorstep. The cost of hiring people is high compared to the cost of the other required infrastructure, and this cost limits the ability of home delivery to become more common and widespread than it is currently. Moreover, in times of pandemic, it is advantageous to minimize human involvement in package handling as much as possible. 
     Like package delivery, people generally take planes, trains, or buses (the human equivalent of the tractor trailer in this example) when traversing longer distances. For travel within the geographical area of a single city, however, most people ride in an automobile, whether it be their own, that of a friend, a taxi service, or a commercially available ride-sharing vehicle. In the vast majority of current cases, these trains, buses and autos are operated by a human driver. Autonomous vehicles, however, have been introduced on an experimental basis for passenger conveyance in some areas of the country and will undoubtedly become more commonplace as technology advances and safety is proven. 
     Package delivery and people delivery, as currently practiced in towns and cities across America, are nearly always siloed in separate ecosystems, which is not an efficient use of vehicle fleets. People require transportation much more during specific hours of the day, when the majority of people are either heading to work or returning home from work; the rest of the time, many vehicles remain inactive and parked. This wastes considerable space. Consider a large company owning tens of thousands of vehicles—where will they be parked at night? It would be much more efficient to also use these vehicles for logistics and package delivery. During off-peak hours for people-moving, these vehicles could remain continuously on the road, delivering packages in between the occasional mid-day human traveler. So-called “dead head” miles are a common problem for ridesharing and taxis services, where they must convey a person to a distant location, then return with no fare; but if equipped to carry and delivery packages as well, the vehicle may stop at any number of nearby distribution centers, pick up some packages, and deliver them on the way back to its home location. 
     With a fleet of autonomous vehicles on the road, it is clear how they might be loaded at a central facility with packages. However, an impediment to fully automated package delivery is getting the packages from the vehicle to the doorstep. Some autonomous vehicle delivery solutions include sending the customer a message and requesting them to meet the delivery vehicle at the curb to retrieve a heated or cooled item from a compartment. A difficulty created by such a system is that it relies on the recipient to be timely in retrieving their package. If the recipient is delayed in any way in getting their package, the autonomous vehicle creates a traffic issue idling in front of the delivery location or an inefficiency is introduced into the system because the vehicle will have to either wait longer than expected or will need to return to the delivery location a second time for a single package delivery. Still other solutions require the customer to travel to a specific location that may have a locker or other secure holding containment they can access to retrieve their package. Unfortunately, these solutions rely on the customer to undertake some action to prevent delays, making them inefficient and unworkable for most deliveries. 
     What is needed is a method and system to coordinate the autonomous delivery of both people and packages to their intended destinations and to transport packages from the autonomous vehicle to the doorstep, using existing sidewalks and infrastructure that includes stairs, gates, doors, broken concrete and tree roots, and an environment generally designed for human mobility. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention is directed to a system and method for delivering people and packages to one or more delivery locations, each delivery location associated with a street address. To accomplish this, a delivery vehicle is provided with one or more deployable robots that, in embodiments, are either autonomous or remotely operated. A delivery route is mapped for all known delivery locations and the vehicle proceeds to an address associated with each delivery location where it either drops off or picks up a passenger or deploys the delivery robot to deliver or pick up one or more packages. In some embodiments, more than one delivery robot is used at the same time. In other embodiments, the delivery route is altered to prioritize human passengers or packages having special delivery time restrictions. 
     In an embodiment, the delivery robot is configured to identify and remove the package or packages to be delivered from the vehicle. Then, the robot carries the package to the delivery location, which may be predetermined or may be a porch associated with a residence, and places the package at that location, whereupon it then returns to the delivery vehicle and stows itself onboard. Where the robot is picking up a package, the robot deploys from the delivery vehicle and walks to the delivery location where it picks up one or more packages to be delivered and carries them back to the vehicle. Once there, the robot places the package in a storage area in the vehicle and is stowed in the vehicle. The delivery robot can also be configured to load itself with the package or packages prior to deploying from the delivery vehicle. 
     Where the delivery vehicle is outfitted with sensors, it may communicate delivery location data to the robot including information about any obstacles the robot may encounter between the vehicle and the delivery location. The vehicle also communicates stored information about the identity of the package and the exact physical location it should be placed at the address. Alternatively, similar information is provided if a package is to be picked up at a particular address. 
     If any new delivery or pickup requests are received, the vehicle can determine whether the new requests can be efficiently accommodated and, if so, the delivery route is updated to include the new request. Once all of the packages and people have been delivered or picked up, the vehicle either ends its work period or idles at a predetermined idling location. 
     Another embodiment of the present invention is an autonomous system for delivering or picking up one or more of packages and people to one or more delivery locations with a roadway vehicle having a deployable delivery robot disposed on a deployment mechanism. The system is made up of at least a processing module, a memory storage module and a communication network that work together to determine a delivery route for the roadway vehicle, navigate the vehicle to one or more delivery destinations on the delivery route, and send a signal to the delivery robot or the deployment mechanism to deploy from the vehicle if the delivery location is associated with the delivery or pickup of one or more packages. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and form a part of the specification, illustrate the embodiments of the invention and together with the written description serve to explain the principles, characteristics, and features of the invention. In the drawings: 
         FIG. 1  is a flow chart illustrating one embodiment of the overall mixed use delivery process. 
         FIG. 2  is a flow chart illustrating one embodiment of the curb to doorstep process. 
         FIG. 3  is an illustration of a delivery van and robot set-up to accomplish the curb to doorstep delivery in accordance with certain embodiments of the invention. 
         FIG. 4  is an illustration of an autonomous robot for use with the curb to doorstep process described herein. 
         FIG. 5  is an illustration of a deployment mechanism in an extended position with an autonomous robot disposed at the end. 
     
    
    
     While implementations of the disclosed inventions are described herein by way of example, those skilled in the art will recognize that they are not limited to the embodiments or drawings described. It should be understood that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit implementations to the particular form disclosed but, on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope as defined by the appended claims. The headings used herein are not meant to be used to limit the scope of the description or the claims. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of example embodiments. It will be evident to one skilled in the art, however, that embodiments can be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well-known methods or components have not been described in detail so that the details of the present invention are not obfuscated. 
     In the interest of clarity, some routine features of the implementations described herein are omitted. It will be appreciated that in the development of any actual implementation of the present invention, certain decisions must be made in order to achieve specific goals, and that different decisions may be made to achieve different goals without departing from the teachings of the invention. While certain implementations might be complex and time-consuming, they would nevertheless be routine to accomplish for those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of this disclosure. 
     The invention set forth herein is intended primarily for use with pickup and delivery of people and packages within the radius of an autonomous delivery vehicle, and in particular, the radius an autonomous delivery vehicle can travel in a given 4 or 8-hour period. In certain embodiments, the present invention addresses the pick-up and delivery of people and packages within a defined area, such as an area less than 100 square miles or an area less than 50 square miles. It is expected that the present invention will be tailored to use in an urban or suburban setting, although other settings are possible where efficiencies can be realized. 
     In embodiments, the inventive method set forth herein employs a driverless delivery vehicle capable of carrying both passengers and packages, such as a Ford Transit Connect Van modified for full autonomy, or similar vehicle. Currently, there are a large number of third party organizations and companies that are developing vehicles capable of autonomous navigation and operation (“driverless vehicles”), such as Uber ATG, Argo AI, Waymo and others. The present invention is intended to be agnostic with regard to the particular driverless system that is employed, so long as the system has a memory that can save a route for the delivery of packages and can readily re-calculate that route in order to efficiently address changes that may occur during a delivery run. 
     Certain embodiments of this invention specifically lay out methods and example embodiments for simultaneous mixed-use people-carrying (as in a taxi service) and package delivery. In some embodiments no modification of a standard autonomous vehicle is required, while other embodiments may require extremely minor modification to house a deployment mechanism for a separate “curb to doorstep” delivery vehicle or robot. Embodiments may carry people and packages at the same time, with an on-board “curb to doorstep” autonomous robot, that can deliver packages to a doorstep, mounted in the rear of the vehicle with an automatic door gate. Alternatively, the robot may be mounted in a location adjacent to the side door of the vehicle depending on the specific application, such as for delivery of mail or packages to a mailbox. In still other embodiments, there may be a specialized vehicle designed specifically with a package and robot bay separate from seating for people. 
     In  FIG. 1 , an overall process  10  for delivery of a group of packages or people in accordance with certain embodiments of the present invention is described. In embodiments, at the start of a work shift, an autonomous delivery vehicle is loaded with one or more packages, one or more passengers or both. In certain embodiments, this loading occurs at a distribution center or sorting facility. Alternatively, it could occur at an airport or train station. In other embodiments the work shift could begin with a pickup at a residence or workplace. At the time of the pickup or, alternatively, when the request for a pickup has been made, a route calculation system calculates an optimized delivery route for all people or packages to be delivered or picked up  15 . Once this has been calculated, the delivery vehicle begins to navigate to the first calculated location  20 . In some embodiments, the route calculation will be re-calculated on a continual basis, such as every thirty seconds, to account not only for new stops, but also for changes in traffic conditions or road work. As will be apparent to those of skill in the art, existing third party GPS-enabled navigation software such as Waze or Google Maps can be leveraged to assist with generating the delivery route. Waze is registered trademark of Google LLC of Mountainview, Calif. 
     At any point during the work period, including prior to the delivery vehicle reaching the first location, a new request for pickup and/or delivery can be received by the route calculation system  25 . If such a request is received and the route calculation system determines the new delivery stop can be efficiently incorporated into the existing route structure  30 , the route will be updated accordingly and the delivery vehicle will navigate to an address associated with the new destination when it is most efficient and proceed as previously described. Alternatively, the route calculation system can be biased to prioritize the pickup and delivery of human passengers over packages in order to minimize travel time for human passengers. Similarly, packages or items that are temperature-sensitive, such as groceries, can also be prioritized. 
     In the event that no new request is made prior to arrival at the first destination, or in the event it is determined that any such request would not be efficiently incorporated into the existing route, the delivery vehicle proceeds to the address of the original destination for delivery or pick-up  35 . If the delivery or pick-up happens to be a package, an autonomous robot is deployed from the delivery vehicle to carry or retrieve the package between the delivery vehicle and the doorstep or other destination as more fully explained with relation to  FIG. 2 . In certain embodiments, the robot is bipedal and autonomous, with an option for remote teleoperation by a human to handle situations that may be confusing for the robot autonomy. Where the delivery or pickup is of a human being, the delivery vehicle proceeds to the address associated with the pickup or delivery and awaits a signal to proceed, such as via an app or through the use of an on-board vehicle sensor that can determine when a person has entered or exited the vehicle. 
     After the delivery or pickup is complete  35 , a determination is made whether there are additional stops to be made, the vehicle repeats the process discussed  40 . If, however, no additional deliveries or pickups are planned, the delivery vehicle travels to an idling location  45 , either predetermined or calculated based on current location, until a new delivery request is made  25  or the shift ends. The goal for such a system, however, is the maximum utilization of the fleet infrastructure and 100% service time for the robots and vehicles. 
       FIG. 2  sets forth an embodiment of a delivery or pickup system and method  100  for packages once the delivery vehicle arrives at the curb  110  having an address and being in front of a destination location in accordance with certain embodiments of the invention.  FIG. 3  illustrates a delivery vehicle  200  in accordance with certain embodiments of the present invention. If a package is being picked up or delivered, a door  210  of the delivery vehicle, such as a lift gate in the back of the vehicle  200 , is opened to enable egress by an autonomous robot  220 . Prior to exiting the vehicle  200 , the robot  220  accesses available information about the local surroundings. In certain embodiments, the robot  220  accesses information about the destination including, for example, the address, a picture of the home or office from the street, a previously obtained map of the property, the weather, recipient-submitted information, telemetric or other data collected by the delivery vehicle  200 , or other relevant information  120 . This information may be provided to the robot  220  via an external data provider or by an electronic control system installed in the delivery vehicle. In certain embodiments, the external data provider is a remote data storage center the robot  220  accesses via a wireless data link. 
     Next, the robot  220  deploys  130  from the delivery vehicle  200  and retrieves the appropriate package  230  and either carries it to the doorstep of the home or office for delivery or retrieves a package from the doorstep or other predetermined location if the stop is for the purpose of picking up a package. In an alternative embodiment, the robot  220  loads itself with a package  230  prior to deployment. Once the pickup or delivery is complete, the robot reboards the delivery vehicle  200  and the vehicle  200  continues to the next stop. In some embodiments, the vehicle may re-charge the robot when it is on-board, to reduce the required battery life of the robot to only that required to do a single delivery, rather than requiring sufficient charge to operate the robot all day. In embodiments, people who opt for autonomous delivery or pickup will grant permission for the robot to come onto their property and will likely need to generate a detailed map of their yards in advance to assist with delivery. 
     With reference to  FIG. 4 , in certain embodiments, the robot  220  is a bi-pedal autonomous robot having legs  410  that enable it to move from place to place in a manner that could be referred to as “walking.” The robot  220  further has arms  420  that can be employed to carry the packages  230  referred to above to and from the delivery vehicle  200 . The robot  220  can autonomously operate through use of a multitude of on-board sensors, control circuits, motors and springs wherein it can balance both holding and not holding a package and can employ its sensors to avoid obstacles in its path as well as using stored location and mapping data to assist with navigation to and from the vehicle  200 . 
     In embodiments, the robot  220  is configured to be transitionable between a stowed configuration as illustrated in  FIG. 3 , and an operational configuration as illustrated in  FIG. 4 . When the robot  220  is walking and carrying packages to and from the delivery vehicle  200 , it is in operational configuration, but its arms  420  and legs  410  can be folded and positioned to transition to the stowed configuration where it is placed on, or connected to, a deployment mechanism  310  mounted inside the delivery vehicle  200 . In embodiments, the deployment mechanism  310  may be permanently installed in the vehicle or may be removable. An embodiment of the deployment mechanism  310  is illustrated in  FIG. 5 . 
     In still other embodiments, there may be more than one deployment mechanism  310  and more than one robot  220  deployed from a vehicle  200  at the same time, allowing the vehicle  200  to drop off several robots  220  with brief stops, allow them time to make their deliveries, and pick them up again. The vehicle  200  may pause only momentarily to allow a robot  220  to exit the vehicle  200  with a package  230 , to avoid blocking traffic. This problem is especially significant in urban areas, where delivery vehicles often are cited for parking infractions, as they have little other choice but to illegally park while making a delivery. 
     While the robot  220  is in stowed configuration, the arms  420  can be used to perform tasks that do not require the use of the legs  410 . In embodiments, the arms  420  can extend out of the side of the vehicle  200  to place mail or packages in a mailbox or other receptacle without the robot  220  exiting the vehicle  200 . In some embodiments, the deployment mechanism  310  used to hold the robot  220  may be actuated to extend the reach of the workspace by moving the stowed robot  220  in a direction that makes accessing an exterior location easier. 
     Certain aspects of the embodiments include process steps and instructions described herein in the form of an algorithm. It should be noted that the process steps and instructions of the embodiments could be embodied in software, firmware or hardware, and when embodied in software, could be downloaded to reside on and be operated from different platforms used by a variety of operating systems. The embodiments can also be in a computer program product which can be executed on a computing system. 
     The embodiments also relate to an apparatus for performing the operations herein. This apparatus may be specially constructed for the purposes, e.g., a specific computer, or it may comprise a general-purpose computer selectively activated or reconfigured by a computer program stored in the computer. Such a computer program may be stored in a computer readable storage medium, the memory/storage can be transitory or non-transitory. Memory can include any of the above and/or other devices that can store information/data/programs. 
     In specific embodiments, the methods of delivering people and packages using the vehicles and robots discussed herein are accomplished at least through the use of an electronic control system in the delivery vehicle. In certain embodiments, the electronic control system is comprised of a delivery server having a memory storage module, a processing module, and a communication network to enable communication with and to control certain aspects of the operation of the vehicle and, in embodiments, the deployment mechanism. Some examples of such communication include opening the liftgate on the back of the vehicle to deploy the robot, determining the delivery route, and communicating with the robot for purposes of exchanging data and providing prompts over the communications network that can be wired or wireless. In certain embodiments, the data exchanged between the vehicle and the robot includes the delivery location at the address, identification information about the package or packages to be delivered to a particular address, any data collected by sensors on the vehicle regarding obstacles that may be on the ground between the vehicle and the delivery destination, and any other information or data that may be relevant to delivering the package or packages to the doorstep or to some other predetermined destination. In certain embodiments, the delivery server also communicates with the deployment mechanism for purposes of deploying and retrieving the robot. 
     While much of this application has been directed to the use of the robot for residential or office deliveries, the process of loading the van at the beginning of a work shift can be accomplished using the autonomous robot described herein. The robot, armed with a lookup table and a scanner, for example, can “pick” marked packages from shelves and place them in the van for delivery. 
     While various illustrative embodiments incorporating the principles of the present teachings have been disclosed, the present teachings are not limited to the disclosed embodiments. Instead, this application is intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of the present teachings and use its general principles. Further, this application is intended to cover such departures from the present disclosure as come within known or customary practice in the art to which these teachings pertain.