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GoogleGranted patentCars & transportInterest 7/10

Google patents self-driving cars that find exact pickup spots using landmarks

This patent describes a system for autonomous vehicles that uses semantic information, such as landmarks or descriptions, to pinpoint the best pickup location. The car’s computer analyzes this data to select a specific spot that meets multiple safety and convenience conditions, then guides the vehicle to that exact place. It also sends a message to the passenger’s device confirming the location using these semantic markers.

Why it mattersIt improves the reliability of ride-hailing services by ensuring self-driving cars arrive at the precise, safest spot for passengers to board, reducing confusion or missed pickups.

In the filing’s own words

A control system for an autonomous vehicle is configured to pick up a passenger at a pickup location. The autonomous vehicle includes a self-driving system and one or more computing devices in communication with the self-driving system. The one or more computing devices are configured to receive a trip request including a pickup location and a destination location, the trip request being associated with a client device; cause the self-driving system to navigate the autonomous vehicle to the pickup location; send a prompt to the client device to collect semantic information; determine a specified location based on the semantic information received in response to the prompt; identify one or more semantic markers for the specified location from the semantic information; and send a message to the client device identifying the specified location using the one or more semantic markers.

What exactly they claim (claim 1)

1. A method comprising: receiving, by one or more computing devices of an autonomous vehicle, a trip request including a pickup location for picking up a passenger, each of the one or more computing devices having one or more processors; in response to receiving the trip request controlling, by the one or more computing devices, the autonomous vehicle in an autonomous driving mode to the pickup location; after receiving the trip request, receiving, by the one or more computing devices, a semantic information related to the pickup location collected by a client device associated with a passenger; while controlling the autonomous vehicle to the pickup location, identifying, by the one or more computing devices, a plurality of candidate locations based on the received semantic information, wherein each of the plurality of candidate locations satisfies at least one of a plurality of conditions related to picking up the passenger; determining, by the one or more computing devices, a specified location by selecting one of the plurality of candidate locations that best satisfies a highest number of the plurality of conditions related to picking up the passenger; sending, by the one or more computing devices, a notification to the client device identifying the specified location using one or more semantic markers related to the specified location; and controlling, by the one or more processors, the autonomous vehicle to the specified location in the autonomous driving mode.

Facts

Company
Google (WAYMO LLC)
Official title
Semantic identification of pickup locations
Patent number
US12759589B2
Application number
18801993
Filed
Aug 13, 2024
Granted
Oct 13, 2026
Inventors
1
Claims
20

Classified under

B60W 60/00253 Operations & transportG06V 10/44 Physics & computingG06V 20/56 Physics & computingG08G 1/123 Physics & computingB60W 2556/50 Operations & transportG06Q 10/02 Physics & computing
Read the full filing (official PDF) ↗ Open in the Patent Tracker

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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.