Waymo patents using walking paths to pick better ride spots
This filing describes a system that creates heatmaps of where people usually walk to find the best spots for autonomous vehicles to stop. By analyzing past and current foot traffic, the software suggests pickup locations that align with natural pedestrian routes rather than just map coordinates. The system distinguishes between walkers and cyclists to ensure the data reflects actual foot traffic.
In the filing’s own words
The technology involves identifying suitable pickup and drop-off locations based on detected pedestrian walking paths. Mapped areas have specific physical configurations, which may suggest places to pick up or drop off a rider (or a delivery). A walking path heatmap can be generated based on obtained historical and/or real-time pedestrian-related information, which can be obtained by autonomous vehicles driving in areas of interest. Incorporating heatmap information into the evaluation, the system identifies locations for optimized pickup or drop-off in accordance with where pedestrians would likely go. One aspect involves classifying different objects, for instance identifying one or more objects as people who may be walking versus riding a bicycle. Once classified, information about the paths is used to obtain a the heatmap associated with the walking paths.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A method comprising: identifying, by one or more processors of a computing system associated with a fleet of vehicles, at least one pickup or drop-off location based on digital map information corresponding to (i) a pickup or drop-off request and (ii) a heatmap of detected pedestrian walking paths corresponding to a location associated with the pickup or drop-off request, the heatmap of detected pedestrian walking paths being based on detected trajectory information for pedestrian objects; and causing, by the one or more processors, a vehicle of the fleet of vehicles to perform a driving operation in an autonomous driving mode in order to arrive at a given one of the identified at least one pickup or drop-off location according to the pickup or drop-off request.
Facts
- Company
- Google (Waymo LLC)
- Official title
- Inferring Good User Pickup Locations From Detected Walking Paths
- Publication number
- US20260326793A1
- Application number
- 19720302
- Filed
- Jun 25, 2026
- Published
- Oct 22, 2026
- Inventors
- 1
- Claims
- 20
Classified under
B60W 60/00253 Operations & transportG01C 21/3461 Physics & computingG01C 21/3807 Physics & computingG01C 21/3841 Physics & computingB60W 2420/403 Operations & transportB60W 2420/408 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.