Waymo patents pickup codes that hide your location from strangers
This patent describes a system for driverless cars that creates a temporary, unique code to help passengers find their vehicle. The code is designed to reveal the car's location without exposing the passenger's home address, workplace, or final destination to other drivers or pedestrians.
In the filing’s own words
Aspects of the present disclosure relate to protecting the privacy of a user of a dispatching service for driverless vehicles. For example, a request for a vehicle identifying user information is received. A client computing device may be identified based on the user information. In response to the request, a driverless vehicle may be dispatched to the location of the client device. Signaling information may be generated based on a set of rules including a first rule that the signaling information does not identify, indirectly or directly, the user as well as a second rule that the signaling information does not identify, indirectly or directly, the user information. The location of the client computing device and the signaling information may be sent to the driverless vehicle for display. In addition, the signaling information may also be sent to the client computing device for display.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A method comprising: receiving, by one or more processors of one or more server computing devices, a request for a vehicle having a first display, the request identifying a location to pick up a passenger; in response to the receiving the request, generating, by the one or more processors, a signal having content in accordance with a set of rules stored in memory, wherein the signal does not identify, directly or indirectly, a prior or current location of the passenger, or a destination location for a trip to which the vehicle is assigned; dispatching the vehicle to the location; and sending, by the one or more processors, the signal to the vehicle and a client computing device of the passenger having a second display, wherein the content of the signal is displayed on the first display and the second display in order to enable the passenger to identify the vehicle as being assigned to the passenger.
Facts
- Company
- Google (Waymo LLC)
- Official title
- Unique signaling for vehicles to preserve user privacy
- Patent number
- US12767043B1
- Application number
- 18744910
- Filed
- Jun 17, 2024
- Granted
- Oct 20, 2026
- Inventors
- 2
- Claims
- 20
Classified under
B60Q 1/50 Operations & transportG01C 21/3415 Physics & computingG01C 21/3438 Physics & computingG06Q 10/02 Physics & computingG08G 1/202 Physics & computingB60Q 1/503 Operations & transportMore from Google in Cars & transport
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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.