| CPC B60W 20/13 (2016.01) [B60W 20/30 (2013.01); B60W 20/40 (2013.01); G01C 21/3469 (2013.01); G01C 21/3605 (2013.01)] | 18 Claims |
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1. A system for assigning a vehicle to a transportation request and initiating servicing of the transportation request by the vehicle, the system comprising:
one or more servers comprising one or more processors and configured to communicate over a communications network;
a plurality of vehicles, wherein each vehicle comprises:
a vehicle subsystem comprising vehicle subsystem logic comprising instructions and one or more processors configured to execute instructions of the vehicle subsystem logic and communicate a vehicle status; and
a driver device having an interface configured to accept tactile input from the driver and disposed in at least one vehicle, wherein at least one of said vehicle subsystem or said driver device has geo location services wherein at least one of said driver device or said vehicle subsystem is configured to communicate a vehicle status comprising a vehicle location provided by the geo location services thereof over the communications network to the one or more servers;
a plurality of customer devices, wherein each customer device comprises a user interface operable by a user of the customer device, geo location services, customer application logic comprising instructions and one or more processors configured to execute instructions of the customer application logic and communicate over the communications network and interact with the one or more servers, thereby enabling a customer using the customer device to interact with the one or more servers to create a transportation request comprising a pickup location and a destination location, wherein the one or more servers are further configured to:
receive from a first vehicle subsystem or said driver device, a first vehicle status of a first vehicle, wherein the first vehicle status comprises a first location of the first vehicle and a first value relating a first range of the first vehicle;
determine that the first vehicle of said plurality of vehicles comprises a sufficient range to fulfill the transportation request, wherein the determination is based at least in part on the range being greater than a sum of distances based upon:
the first location of the first vehicle;
the first value relating the first range of the first vehicle;
the pickup location of the transportation request;
the destination location of the transportation request; and
a refueling distance, wherein the refueling distance is a distance from the destination location to a location of a fuel unit or charging station comprising services which meet a service criterion of the first vehicle;
wherein in response to receiving a transportation request, creating a priority based vehicle assignment by assigning the first vehicle to the transportation request based on a plurality of determinations comprising:
1) a vehicle that already has a pending refueling scheduled prior to a current qualification process and that has a lowest vehicle range,
2) a vehicle that does not require refueling and does not already have a pending refueling scheduled that is closest to the pickup location and/or has the earliest estimated arrival time to the pickup location, and
3) a vehicle that does not already have a pending refueling scheduled, that requires refueling and that has a lowest vehicle range;
selecting the first vehicle based upon said determinations;
initiate travel of the first vehicle to the pickup location to service the transportation request, wherein the servicing of the transportation request does not comprise a refueling event of the first vehicle prior to it reaching the destination wherein at least one of said one or more servers and at least one of said driver device or said vehicle subsystem and at least one of said customer devices communicate with each other, wherein said communication dynamically updates data shared between at least one of said one or more servers and at least one of said driver device or said vehicle subsystem and said plurality of customer devices.
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