An example operation may include one or more of identifying a person as a roadway obstruction via a transport moving along the roadway, determining a first threat level of the person at a first time, via the transport, when the first threat level is above a threshold, indicating via the transport, to alert at least one of an occupant of the transport and the person, detecting a gesture, via the transport, performed by the person, and the gesture indicates the transport should proceed, responsive to detecting the gesture, determining a second threat level at a second time is below the threshold, and responsive to the second threat level being below the threshold, proceeding, by the transport, along the roadway.

The platform and method optimize efficiency of operation within the conveyance industry for goods, services and freight by providing for the filtering, selection and securing of conveyance services in accordance with one or more of client and representative preferences in substantially real time. An efficiency preference may be employed to pool conveyance services for optimizing vehicle utilization.

A method is described and includes subsequent to an autonomous vehicle becoming immobilized, initiating a local assistance request; subsequent to the initiating, receiving local assistance input from a passenger of the autonomous vehicle; and using the local assistance input to determine an action to be taken by the autonomous vehicle to mobilize the autonomous vehicle.

A passenger may be rather vulnerable to safety risks during pickup and/or drop-off of a passenger by a vehicle. To mitigate or eliminate such risk, the vehicle may determine an endpoint for a vehicle route to pickup or drop-off a passenger at a location. The vehicle may determine an estimated path between the endpoint and the location and may determine a safety confidence score by a machine-learned model for the estimated path and/or may predict a trajectory of a detected object to ascertain whether the estimated path is safe. The vehicle may execute any of a number of different mitigation actions to reduce or eliminate a safety risk if one is detected.

Aspects of the disclosure provide for reducing inconvenience to other road users caused by stopped autonomous vehicles. As an example, a vehicle having an autonomous driving mode may be stopped at a first location. While the vehicle is stopped, sensor data is received from a perception system of the vehicle. The sensor data may identify a road user. Using the sensor data, a value indicative of a level of inconvenience to the road user caused by stopping the vehicle at the first location may be determined. The vehicle is controlled in the autonomous driving mode to cause the vehicle to move from the first location and in order to reduce the value.

An object is to provide a technique allowing reduction in the occurrence of a traffic jam to be caused by autonomous driving by an autonomous driving vehicle. A traveling plan preparation apparatus includes a traveling plan preparation unit that prepares an autonomous driving traveling plan on the basis of traveling cost including convenience cost. The traveling plan preparation unit increases the convenience cost as a congestion level becomes higher, and performs at least one of a process of increasing the convenience cost with a smaller margin of time and a process of reducing the convenience cost with greater closeness of a road to a pick-up position.

A method is described and includes acquiring sensor data produced by sensors of a plurality of vehicles traversing an area including a location of a user, wherein the vehicles traversing the area comprise a subset of a fleet of vehicles for providing rideshare services; processing the acquired sensor data to determine a category of the user; selecting a vehicle from the fleet of vehicles based on the category of the user, wherein the selected vehicle comprises at least one accommodation corresponding to the category of the user; and dispatching the selected vehicle to a pick-up location designated by the user.

A method for operating an autonomous driving vehicle waiting to pick-up a passenger at a pick-up location includes: determining a waiting time which the vehicle is required to wait for the passenger; determining a first and second route from an actual location of the vehicle to a parking spot and from there to the pick-up location; estimating parking cost based on the determined first and second routes and the waiting time; determining a third route from the actual location of the vehicle to the pick-up location by selecting a sequence of street segments from a plurality of pre-selected street segments such that a segment driving cost is minimized; estimating a driving cost for the third route based on the segment driving cost; comparing the estimated parking cost and the estimated driving cost; operating the vehicle to maneuver along the first and second routes when the estimated parking cost is lower than the estimated driving cost; and operating the vehicle to maneuver along the third route when the estimated driving cost is lower than the estimated parking cost.

The safety management apparatus comprises a protective shield with automatic opening and closing, a sensor configured to obtain physical information related to an occupant boarded an autonomous traveling cart, and a controller configured to control the opening and closing of the protective shield. The protective shield is configured to be normally open and, when closed, shield an occupant space of the cart from the outside. The controller includes at least one memory including at least one program, and at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory. The at least one processor executes a first process and a second process upon execution of the at least one program. The first process is to determine whether the occupant is an infant based on the physical information. The second process, which is executed when the occupant is determined to be an infant, is to close the protective shield.

The technology involves pickups of riders by autonomous vehicles in a manner that ensures the rider is picked up within an estimated time of arrival (ETA). For instance, in accordance with customer authorization, the autonomous vehicle may loiter or otherwise stay within a certain proximity (e.g., distance or time) to guarantee rider pickup within a predetermined time. One vehicle may be assigned to a rider for a set timeframe or multiple vehicles may be allocated to a particular event. Either approach may be used to ensure rider pickup with minimal waiting. One benefit is to avoid user-initiated ride requests when the customer is ready to depart a location, because a vehicle will already be present and ready to take the rider to their desired destination. Loitering may include prepositioning a vehicle at a given place, or driving autonomously to be nearby as needed.