U.S. Patent No. 10,152,892 B2 (‘892), issued on December 11, 2018, for “Autonomous Vehicle Notification System.” The inventors are Taggart Matthiesen of Kentfield, California, Jisi Guo of San Francisco, California, Sebastian Rolf Johan Brannstrom of San Francisco, California, and Jess Garms of San Francisco, California. The applicant and assignee is Lyft, Inc. of San Francisco, California, the ride-sharing company, and one of the two largest in the United States. Although both Lyft and its rival, Uber, started out as human-driven ride-hailing apps, there has been a major push internally to both companies to advance their autonomous vehicles programs. The ‘892 specification describes various embodiments for computerized hailing of autonomous vehicles, including passenger pickup, service communications, and navigation. The ‘892 claims are directed to the method, system, and computer medium apparatus of detecting and determining an autonomous vehicle, through a computerized device (i.e., app), and delivering that vehicle to the waiting rider. It should be noted the ‘892 patent is focused on the communicative aspects of autonomous ride-hailing, similar to Uber’s recently issued U.S. Patent No. 10,021,614, directed to the system for managing network communications for locating autonomous vehicles.
Figure 1 illustrates the autonomous vehicle ride-hailing communications system:
The Cooperative Patent Classifications are G08G (traffic control systems, namely, with provisions for distinguishing between two or more types of vehicles, e.g., between motor-cars and cycles, and anti-collision systems).
Lyft has had an autonomous vehicle program since 2017. Uber has recently resumed its driverless vehicle testing program after it temporarily pulled the plug after a fatal accident involving one of its autonomous cars back in March 2018. Perhaps unsurprisingly, some of Uber’s recently issued patents include safety features involving autonomous vehicles, including U.S. Patent No. 10,139,828, entitled “Autonomous vehicle operated with safety augmentaion,” and U.S. Patent No. 10,140,468, entitled “Secure start system for an autonomous vehicle.”
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