WO2018197508A1

WO2018197508A1 - Data processing method for enabling multi-hop carpooling

Info

Publication number: WO2018197508A1
Application number: PCT/EP2018/060497
Authority: WO
Inventors: Emile SIMON
Original assignee: Luxembourg Institute Of Science And Technology (List)
Priority date: 2017-04-25
Filing date: 2018-04-24
Publication date: 2018-11-01
Also published as: CN110753917A; EP3616088A1; LU100177B1

Abstract

The invention proposes a data processing method for enabling multi-hop carpooling. Based on single-vehicle carpooling trip data provided by users of an online carpooling platform, the invention is capable of generating multi-hop carpooling offers, wherein a multi-hop trip is a carpooling trip during which a requesting user changes vehicles at least once at a transit point, while travelling from an origin to a destination. The invention provides efficient usage of existing data, which in turn enables more efficient use of vehicles participating in a carpooling system, thereby reducing environmental pollution and road traffic density.

Description

DATA PROCESSING METHOD FOR ENABLING MULTI-HOP CARPOOLING Technical field The invention relates to the field of data processing, in particular of data relating to carpooling offers comprising geographical information describing the origin, destination and connecting trajectories of trips.

Background of the invention

Carpooling, also known as ride-sharing or lift-sharing, is the sharing of car journeys so that more than one person travels in a car. By having more people using one vehicle, carpooling reduces each person's travel costs such as fuel costs, tolls, and the stress of driving. Carpooling is also a more environmentally friendly and sustainable way to travel as sharing journeys reduces air pollution, carbon emissions, traffic congestion on the roads, and the need for parking spaces.

In recent years, carpooling applications have seen rising popularity on the Internet. Such distributed software platforms allow users to register or post carpool offers prior to the trip happening. Carpool demands may also be posted. Both offers and demands are collected at a network node in a communication network via the users' respective terminal devices, such as smartphones or computers, and stored in a database. The database consolidates a potentially large amount of data, the use of which determines the efficiency of the carpooling system. In a known basic carpooling platform, on reception of a new carpooling demand for a trip from a given origin to a given destination within a provided timeframe, a software application looks up data records in said database for exact matches. If no exact match is found, the request is turned down, and the requesting user must therefore resort to other transportation means, for example by using his own vehicle, for the planned trip.

There have been efforts to use the collected carpooling data more efficiently, for example by widening the search radius in the database for both the requested origin and destination. Such computer implemented methods formulate a database query that does not only search for exact matches when a request for a trip from a given origin to a destination enters the system. Instead, the database query also searches for recorded carpooling offers in the database that have an origin and/or destination in the geographical vicinity of the requested origin and/or destination. By doing so, the requesting user may be accommodated on a single vehicle that departs or arrives close to where she/he initially planned to depart or arrive. Other variants exist that seek to match carpool demands with only partial segments of trips offered. In most cases, such a trip will suit a user. Alternatively, the user of the vehicle offering the trip may be willing to make a detour to pick up the requesting user in order to offer her/him the ride.

Technical problem to be solved

It is an objective of the present invention to provide a method and system which overcomes at least some of the disadvantages of the prior art. Specifically, the method aims at analyzing and processing collected carpooling data records in order to further increase the efficient usage of said data. Summary of the invention

The invention provides a data processing method for enabling multi-hop carpooling. The method comprises the step of providing a database comprising at least two carpooling trip data records, wherein a first data record associates a first vehicle with geographical data describing a first trajectory from a first origin 01 to a first destination Dl, wherein a second data record associates a second vehicle with geographical data describing a second trajectory from a second origin 02 to a second destination D2, and wherein said first and second trajectories do not intersect. The method is remarkable in that the method further comprises the following steps:

a) using data processing means, associating further geographical data, describing one allowable deviation zone per trajectory, with the geographical data describing each of the trajectories stored in said database records;

b) using data processing means, determining a transit point T if the allowable deviation zones associated with said first and second carpooling trip data records intersect, wherein said transit point T is located within said intersection;

c) using data processing means, updating the first and second data records so that the geographical data describing their respective trajectories include a deviation through said transit point T;

d) using data processing means, generating multi-hop carpooling trip data, said data associating the first vehicle with the geographical data describing the trajectory from said first origin 01 to the transit point T, and associating the second vehicle with the geographical data describing the trajectory from the transit point T to the second destination D2, and providing said multi-hop carpooling trip data to at least one user device.

The method may preferably further comprise the following steps:

- transmitting, using data transmission means, the updated trajectory data from the first origin

01 to the first destination D 1 via the transit point T to the first vehicle, and transmitting, using data transmission means, the updated trajectory data from the second origin 02 to the second destination D2 via the transit point T to the second vehicle.

At least one of said first and second vehicles may preferably be an autonomous vehicle configured to use said updated trajectory data as a route.

In accordance with a further aspect of the invention, a method for determining multi-hop carpooling routes for vehicles is proposed. The method comprises the step of providing data describing an first initial route of first vehicle from a first origin 01 to a first destination Dl, and providing data describing an second initial route of a second vehicle from a second origin 02 to a second destination D2, and wherein said first and second routes do not intersect. The method is remarkable in that the method further comprises the following steps:

aa) using data processing means, associating geographical data, describing one allowable deviation zone per initial route, with the data describing each of the initial routes;

bb) using data processing means, determining a transit point T if the allowable deviation zones associated with said first and second initial routes intersect, wherein said transit point T is located within said intersection;

cc) using data processing means, updating data describing the first and second initial routes so as to include a deviation through said transit point T;

dd) transmitting, using data transmission means, data describing the updated first route from the first origin 01 to the first destination Dl via the transit point T to the first vehicle, and transmitting, using data transmission means, data describing the updated second route from the second origin 02 to the second destination D2 via the transit point T to the second vehicle.

Preferably, said first and second vehicles may be autonomous vehicles.

The first carpooling trip data record may preferably comprise further information describing the first vehicle's trajectory from a primary first origin P01 to said first origin 01 and from the first destination D 1 to a final first destination FD 1. The second carpooling trip data record may preferably comprise further information describing the second vehicle's trajectory from a primary second origin P02 to said second origin 02 and from the second destination D2 to a final second destination FD2. The trajectories joining P01 to 01 and Dl to FD1 may intersect with the trajectories joining P02 to 02 and/or D2 to FD2.

Said geographical data may preferably unambiguously describe said trajectories and/or the locations of said origins, destination and transit point. Preferably, the geographical data may comprise geographical coordinates. A trajectory may preferably be represented in a database or in a memory element as a sequence of geographical coordinates, or as a sequence of consecutive segments each having a start end an end, or as a sequence of distances and directions on specified roads, or in any other appropriate way allowing data processing thereof.

The data processing means may preferably comprise a data processor, such as for example a central processing unit, CPU, of a computing device.

Preferably, said multi-hop carpooling trip data may be added to said database as a third carpooling trip data record.

Said further geographical data describing an allowable deviation zone may preferably be determined based on deviation data provided by users of the first and second vehicles respectively. Said deviation zone may preferably comprise a geographical area in the geographical vicinity of said trajectories. An allowable deviation zone may preferably be represented in a database or in a memory element as a surface delimited by a set of geographical coordinates joined by line segments, or as a set of geographical coordinates defining a cloud of points on a map, or in any other appropriate way allowing data processing thereof. One of said zones Zl, Z2 may be empty, so that the corresponding trajectory, either from 01 to Dl or from 02 to D2 is not associated with an allowable deviation zone.

Preferably, steps a) - d) of the method may be performed conditionally on the reception, at a data receiving node having access to said database and said data processing means, of a user request for a carpooling trip from an origin Ο to a destination D2', the database not comprising any data record having Ο as origin and D2' as destination. Said user request may preferably be transmitted from a user's data transmission device to said data receiving node using a data communication channel. The data communication channel may preferably comprise a wireless channel. The origin Ο and the first origin 01 may preferably be identical and/or the destination D2' and the second destination D2 may preferably be identical.

Preferably, the origin Ο may be located in the geographical vicinity of the first origin 01 and/or the destination D2' may be located in the geographical vicinity of the second destination D2. Said user request may preferably comprise a transportation capacity request for said trip from Ο to D2', and the steps a) - d) may preferably performed conditionally on the availability of the requested transportation capacity within the first and second vehicles, the corresponding information being stored in said first and second data records. The transportation capacity request may comprise several people or a parcel volume.

Preferably, the determination of a transit point T at step b) of the method comprises:

determining a plurality of candidate transit points;

selecting said transit point T among said plurality candidate transit points.

These steps may preferably be performed by the data processing means

Said candidate transit points may comprise regional points of interest located within the intersection of the allowable deviation zones, wherein said points of interests are retrieved from a database. The selection of a transit point may preferably consider preference data relating to said candidate transit point, said preference data being provided by the users of said first and second vehicles.

Preferably, method steps c) - d) may be performed conditionally on the confirmation of the trajectories 01 to Dl via T and 02 to D2 via T by users of the first and second vehicles respectively. Preferably, data describing the trajectories determined by the data processing means are transmitted via a data communication channel to said users and displayed on a display device of a computing device. The users provide input on their respective computing device, wherein said input provides an approval or disapproval of the trajectories. The corresponding data may be transmitted back to said data processing means. Preferably, a plurality of possible trajectories may be transmitted to said users, who may grade the trajectories according to their preference.

At method step c) said updated data may preferably be transmitted using data transmission means to users of said first and second vehicles respectively. The data transmission means may preferably comprise a data transmitter, such as a networking interface of a computing device.

Preferably, the trips described by said first and second carpooling trip data records may be scheduled to be take place within a common timeframe, said timeframe being stored in said first and second carpooling trip data records. It is another object of the invention to provide a carpooling platform comprising a computing node in a communication network having access to a database, the database comprising at least two carpooling trip data records, wherein a first data record associates a first vehicle with geographical data describing a first trajectory from a first origin 01 to a first destination Dl, wherein a second data record associates a second vehicle with geographical data describing a second trajectory from a second origin 02 to a second destination D2, and wherein said first and second trajectories do not intersect. The computing node further comprising data processing means configured to carry out the method according to the invention. The computing node may further comprise a user interface that is accessible via a data communication channel to users of the platform, said user interface being configured for posting carpooling requests and carpooling offers. The computing node may further be configured to store said requests and offers in said database. It is another object of the invention to provide a computer program comprising computer readable code means, which when run on a computer, causes the computer to carry out the method according to the invention.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a computer program product comprising a computer- readable medium on which the computer program according to the invention is stored.

It is yet another object of the invention to provide a computer configured for carrying out the method according to the invention. By using the method in accordance with the present invention, it becomes possible to leverage carpooling trip data provided by users of a carpooling platform and describing trips with user-driven or self-driving automotive vehicles, in order to provide new combinations of the existing data and to update existing data within predetermined margins. The results may be used for simulating traffic conditions if carpooling were used instead of the existing trajectories that are described by the initial databased records. The traffic simulations provide the advantage of allowing the planning the construction of new road infrastructures. If not used for simulation purposes only, the new combinations represent new carpooling opportunities going beyond those initially offered by the users of the platform, in that they enable multi-hop carpooling, which results in increased mobility options and efficiency for the users. The invention analyses the data offered by users of a platform, extracts similarities between trips described by said data and generates new carpooling routes based on the detected data similarities. In accordance with the method according to the present invention, transit points at which travellers may change vehicles are determined based on the carpooling trip data provided by the platform's users and possibly based on meta-data related to the geographical data describing said carpooling. This allows, under certain conditions, accommodating a carpooling trip request for which no single-vehicle trip opportunity was provided as such. In the situation where autonomous vehicles are used, the invention allows to update their trajectories in order to accommodate multi-hop carpooling. In any case, the multi-hop carpooling instructions computed via the invention may be provided to the vehicles or their users. Given a particular request to use carpooling from an origin to a destination, a carpooling platform using the present invention provides a larger solution space for replying to the request. This results in an increase in the number of available options for origin-destinations requests, as well as in the number of possible trips, as compared to known carpooling platforms that only consider single-vehicle carpooling trips. Furthermore this results in a more efficient use of the vehicles participating in a carpooling platform, which decreases environmental pollution and the overall road traffic density.

Brief description of the drawings

Several embodiments of the present invention are illustrated by way of figures, which do not limit the scope of the invention, wherein:

Figure 1 provides an illustration of the main method steps in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention.

Detailed description of the invention

This section describes features of the invention in further detail based on preferred embodiments and on the figures, without limiting the invention to the described embodiments. Unless otherwise stated, features of one described embodiment may be combined with additional features of another described embodiment.

In the context of the present invention, "multi-hop" carpooling describes the concept of using at least two vehicles to accommodate the same carpooling user on his/her trip from an origin to a destination. Therefore, the corresponding user changes vehicles, or "hops" from one vehicle to another, at least once on his/her trip.

The word "user" is used to describe a single user or a party comprising a plurality of users. The user may also be an object such as a parcel that should travel from an origin to a destination.

The wording "autonomous vehicle" is used to describe an automotive vehicle with access to a data communication network, equipped with a navigation system such as a satellite navigation system, and equipped with an artificial intelligence control unit interfacing with the vehicle's components (drive train, brake system, etc.), enabling it to drive autonomously without or with very limited interaction from its driver. Such autonomous vehicles are available to date as prototypes and will not be described in further detail in the context of the present invention.

The invention finds its application in carpooling platforms. The technical details of such software platforms which are not deemed relevant for understanding the features of the present invention will not be described in detail in order to improve on the clarity of the description. Such technical details form part of the state of the art known to the skilled person.

Throughout the embodiments of the present invention, it should be understood that the data processing method is typically performed at a computing node in a data communication network, to which users have access via data communication channels. The computing node may comprise one or more servers having significant computing resources such as data processing units, memory elements, data storage space and networking interfaces. The computing node may be implemented by technology commonly described as a "cloud"'. Alternatively, the computing node may be implemented by a peer-to-peer network of interconnected computing devices of individual users of the system, each of the computing devices contributing data processing resources, memory elements and data storage to the node. The computing node typically offers a user interface which is accessible through a Web page or through a software application/app that is distributed to users. Transmitting data from or to a user means transmitting data, via said data communication channel, from or to a communication device of a user, such as a smartphone, a car navigation system or a computer to which the user has access. Such devices are well known in the art and comprise at least one data processor, at least one memory element and at least one networking interface for accessing said data communication channel.

The success of carpooling depends on the ability of matching carpooling offers and demands. As the origin and destination points of the a priori posted trips rarely exactly match, this success depends on some measure of flexibility regarding the location and time of pickup and drop off (both from the drivers and passengers side). To help with this aspect the method according to the invention generates suggestions to users that match close enough trip requests and offers, based on the offers and requests stored in a centralized database.

Figure 1 illustrates the main steps in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention. A database 130, to which data processing means 1 10 of a centralized computing node in a communication network have read/write access, stores carpooling trip data records that have been pre-provided by carpool-offering users of a carpooling software platform. The database may be hosted on a node in said communication network, or it may be a distributed database. The figure shows two exemplary carpooling trip data records Rl and R2. The first carpooling trip data record indicates that vehicle VI travels from origin 01 to destination Dl following a first trajectory within a given timeframe. The second carpooling trip data record indicates that vehicle V2 travels from origin 02 to destination D2 following a second trajectory within a given timeframe. The vehicles VI and V2 are for example autonomous vehicles with which the centralized computing node is able to exchange data. The first and second trajectories, or routes, 01-D l and 02-D2 do not intersect. Of course, the database may store a large amount of such data records. The trajectories, origins and destinations may for example be recorded in the database by means of their geographical coordinates. The trajectories may further be recorded by means of a description of the road segments composing the trajectories. Such geographical mapping data is available to the processing means 1 10 through a geographical database. Any data representation that is capable of unambiguously describing the trajectories and that allows the data processing described in what follows should be considered as being within the scope of the present invention. The geographical database may be stored on the computing node itself, or on a remote network node to which the computing node has read access.

During a first method step a), the data processing means 1 10 associate further geographical data, which may for example be extracted from said geographical database, with the data describing each of the first and second trajectories. Said geographical data describes an allowable deviation zone or surface for each trajectory. Any data representation that is capable of unambiguously describing the allowable deviation zones and that allows the data processing described in what follows should be considered as being within the scope of the present invention. The deviation zones Zl, Z2 for the first and second trajectories may be computed based on pre-determined default values stored at the computing node. For example, a zone covering an area of 5 or 10 km around a given trajectory may constitute its allowable deviation zone, or an area of which all the points are at most at a 5 or 10 minutes' drive from a point in a given trajectory may constitute its allowable deviation zone. Alternatively, a set of points at a similar driving distance -or at a predetermined distance ratio - from the two trajectories could be suggested as a possible deviation zone for both trajectories. Preferably, a user providing a carpooling offer may indicate his/her tolerance for any deviation zones in terms of distance or allowable additional travelling time he/she is willing to take into account for picking up any carpooling users or any data capturing the information on the maximum deviation he/she would be willing to make. In such case, the corresponding data will be stored in the respective data record Rl, R2 together with the carpooling trip data. The data processing means determine the allowable deviation zone by constraining the geographical deviation zone so that the user-provided constraints are substantially respected. It should be noted that one deviation zone, for example Zl, may be empty, meaning that the user of the first vehicle is not willing to deviate from the first trajectory. The data processing means may be further configured to suggest enlarging a user-defined deviation zone, possibly by in turn computing corresponding additional compensation for the user willing to accept it. For instance, a user may be rewarded within a reward points scheme and/or by increasing the cost of the trip for the user requesting it.

At the following step b), the data processing means 1 10 compute an intersection zone between the respective allowable deviation zones Zl and Z2 that are associated with the first and second trajectories. While the initially provided first and second trajectories did not intersect, their respective deviation zones may nevertheless intersect. This may happen even if one of the zones Zl or Z2 is void. If Zl would be void, Z2 might still intersect with the first trajectory joining the first origin 01 to the firs destination D2, even if the first and second trajectories did not intersect. If the intersection between Zl and Z2 is not void, a transit point T is determined within said intersection zone. A transit point may be considered as a "flexible hub" which is determined by the data processing means based on the data that is available in the database. Such determination may be done at any time, for instance well prior to the trip or it may even be made or updated during the trip. The transit point T is selected by taking into account that vehicles VI and V2 can access it from their initially planned trajectories, based on map-based routing algorithms that are as such known in the art. This ensures that vehicle VI is able to travel from its original origin 01 to transit point T, where the requesting user is dropped off, while VI continues its journey to destination Dl . Similarly, vehicle V2 is able to travel from origin 02 to transit point T, where the requesting user is picked up, and V2 continues its journey to destination D2.

Apart from this constraint, further optional constraints may be considered alone or in combination for the determination of the geographical coordinates of transit point T. For example, a set of multiple candidate transit points may be found in the intersection of zones Zl and Z2. The data processing means may in that case present N>1 candidate transit point to the users of vehicles VI and V2 for their approval. The candidate transit points may for example be selected among geographical well known points of interests, or P.O. Is, that are retrieved from a geographical database. The candidate transit points are then for example ordered with respect to the degree by which they fulfil the users' (i.e., any requesting user's and/or the users of vehicles VI and V2) preferences in terms of total travelling time, or in terms of distance and time allowed for picking up a requesting user. Several metrics may further be used to determine candidate transit points, for example but not being limited to: selecting points that minimize the overall deviation of both vehicles VI and V2; selecting points that minimize the duration of the deviation for one or both of the vehicles, etc... Depending on the specific application in which the present invention will be implemented, other selection criteria may become useful without departing from the scope of the invention. The N best candidate transit points, according to the considered selection criteria, may be transmitted by the computing node via a data communication channel to a user's computing device, where they are displayed to a user by means of a connected display. Feedback input from the user is transmitted back to the computing node, where transit point T is finally selected among the set of candidate points based on user feedback. If users decline all the proposed transit points, the method ends unsuccessfully. Alternatively, a larger search radius or wider deviation zones are used to further enlarge the possible solution space in the database as described hereabove. Optionally, the data processing means 1 10 are configured for searching for solutions involving three or more vehicles in said database, by using similar method steps as described here above, but by involving at least two transit points along the trip.

At step c), the data processing means 1 10 updates the first and second data records so that the geographical data describing their respective trajectories include a deviation through said transit point T. As outlined before, this step is preferably performed once the users have expressed their agreement on the transit point computed by the computing node. As the database is updated, the newly generated trajectories through transit point T are available in the database for further iterative determination of new possible multi-hop carpooling offers using the same method steps. Optionally, the involved users' allowable deviation tolerance may be reduced by (part of) the deviation already consumed, thereby leaving less remaining margin for other possible deviations. Finally, at step d), the resulting multi-hop carpooling trip data 120 is generated. The data associates the first vehicle VI with the geographical data describing the trajectory from said first origin 01 to the transit point T, and associates the second vehicle V2 with the geographical data describing the trajectory from the transit point T to the second destination D2. The data is transmitted from the computing node to a user's computing device where it is displayed for the user's reference. The data may further comprise contact information for contacting the drivers/users of vehicles VI and V2 respectively. Advantageously, once multi-hop carpooling data has been generated according to the described method steps, it is stored in a new database record.

In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, the above described steps a) to d) are performed conditionally on the reception, at the central computing node, of a user request for a carpooling trip from an origin Ο to a destination D2', the database not comprising any data record having both Ο as origin and D2' as destination. Ο and D2' may exactly match an origin 01 or a destination D2 of two distinct carpooling trip data records Rl , R2 stored in the database, or they may be located in the geographical vicinity of an origin or a destination of two such records. The extent of the geographical vicinity is determined by the constraints of the users/drivers of vehicles VI and V2, which determine their allowable deviation zones, as described here above. In accordance with a preferred embodiment, the updated data describing the routes or trajectories for vehicles VI and V2 via the transit point T are uploaded using data communication means from the centralized computing node to said vehicles or their users. If the first trajectory from the first origin 01 to the first destination D 1 and the second trajectory from the second origin 02 to the second destination D2 do intersect at a point I, steps a) to d) may still be applied to both trajectories, in order to possibly suggest alternate routes, including at least one alternate possible intersection and transit point T.

In accordance with another embodiment of the invention, the steps explained here above are used to determine multi-hop carpooling routes for vehicles. Without being limited thereto, the vehicles may be autonomous vehicles. First, data, for example geographical data describing a first initial route of first autonomous vehicle from a first origin 01 to a first destination D 1 , and data describing a second initial route of a second autonomous vehicle from a second origin 02 to a second destination D2, is provided. The first and second initial routes do not intersect. Similarly to steps a) to c) described here above in relation with the previous embodiments, the method proceeds as follows:

aa) using data processing means, geographical data, describing one allowable deviation zone per initial route, is associated with the data describing each of the initial routes;

bb) using data processing means, a transit point T is determined if the allowable deviation zones associated with said first and second initial routes intersect, wherein said transit point T is located within said intersection;

cc) using data processing means, the data describing the first and second initial routes is updated so as to include a deviation through said transit point T;

At a further step dd), the data describing the updated first route from the first origin 01 to the first destination D 1 via the transit point T to the first autonomous vehicle, and transmitting, using data transmission means, data describing the updated second route from the second origin 02 to the second destination D2 via the transit point T to the second autonomous vehicle.

The optional features described in relation with steps a)-c) in the previous embodiment also apply with steps aa)-cc) of the current embodiment.

Preferably, the vehicles or autonomous vehicles are configured to use the updated routes as determined by the above method. Thereby, the implemented trajectories allow for users to take advantage of the two vehicles on a carpool trip involving a change of vehicles at transit point T. The occupancy of the vehicles engaged on the streets is increased, the overall traffic density is decreased as less vehicles are required to accommodate for all users, which results in less production of environmentally nefarious exhaust gases. In all embodiments of the invention, optional information attributes may be comprised in the carpooling trip data records. These attributes may be used in database queries when the method searches for matching carpooling trip data records based on a user's request. The attributes may comprise any of the following non-exhaustive and non-limiting list:

information regarding the vehicle

information regarding the driver (and passengers)

an estimated arrival time

if pets/smoking are allowed

- space/size allowed for luggage

information regarding tentative intermediate drop off/pickup points along the initially planned route

users' ratings on the driver and/or on passengers. The algorithms outlined here above, for example for building appropriate database queries, are implemented using processing means that are by appropriately programmed, or by specific analogue circuitry, as it is known in the art. The skilled person is capable of providing such programming code means or circuitry providing the required functionality based on the description that has been given. It should be understood that the detailed description of specific preferred embodiments is given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the scope of the invention will be apparent to the skilled person. The scope of protection is defined by the following set of claims.

Claims

Data processing method for enabling multi-hop carpooling, comprising

providing a database (130) comprising at least two carpooling trip data records, wherein a first data record, Rl , associates a first vehicle with geographical data describing a first trajectory from a first origin 01 to a first destination D l , wherein a second data record, R2, associates a second vehicle with geographical data describing a second trajectory from a second origin 02 to a second destination D2, and wherein said first and second trajectories do not intersect,

characterized in that the method further comprises the following steps:

a) using data processing means (1 10), associating further geographical data, describing one allowable deviation zone, Zl , Z2 per trajectory, with the geographical data describing each of the trajectories stored in said database records, Rl, R2;

b) using data processing means (1 10), determining a transit point T if the allowable deviation zones Zl , Z2 associated with said first and second carpooling trip data records intersect, wherein said transit point T is located within said intersection; c) using data processing means ( 1 10) , updating the first and second data records so that the geographical data describing their respective trajectories include a deviation through said transit point T;

d) using data processing means ( 1 10), generating multi-hop carpooling trip data ( 120), said data associating the first vehicle with the geographical data describing the trajectory from said first origin 01 to the transit point T, and associating the second vehicle with the geographical data describing the trajectory from the transit point T to the second destination D2, and providing said multi-hop carpooling trip data to at least one user device.

The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:

transmitting, using data transmission means, the updated trajectory data from the first origin 01 to the first destination D 1 via the transit point T to the first vehicle, and

transmitting, using data transmission means, the updated trajectory data from the second origin 02 to the second destination D2 via the transit point T to the second vehicle. 3. The method according to claim 2, wherein at least one of said first and second vehicles is an autonomous vehicle configured to use said updated trajectory data as a route.

4. The method according to any of claims 1 to 3, wherein said multi-hop carpooling trip data is added o said database as a third carpooling trip data record.

5. The method according to any of claims 1 to 4, wherein said further geographical data describing an allowable deviation zone is determined based on deviation data provided by users of the first and second vehicles respectively.

6. The method according to any of claims 1 to 5, wherein steps a) - d) are performed conditionally on the reception, at a data receiving node having access to said database and said data processing means, of a user request for a carpooling trip from an origin Ο Γ to a destination D2', the database not comprising any data record having Ο as origin and D2' as destination.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the origin Ο and the first origin 01 are identical and/or the destination D2' and the second destination D2 are identical.

8. The method according to claim 6, wherein the origin Ο is located in the geographical vicinity of the first origin 01 and/or the destination D2' is located in the geographical vicinity of the second destination D2.

9. The method according to any of claims 6 to 8, wherein said user request comprises a transportation capacity request for said trip from Ο to D2', and wherein steps a) - d) are performed conditionally on the availability of the requested transportation capacity within the first and second vehicles, the corresponding information being stored in said first and second data records.

10. The method according to any of claims 1 to 9, wherein the determination of a transit point T at step b) comprises:

determining a plurality of candidate transit points;

- selecting said transit point T among said plurality candidate transit points.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein said selection takes into account preference data relating to said candidate transit point, said preference data being provided by the users of said first and second vehicles.

12. The method according to any of steps 1 to 1 1, wherein steps c) - d) are performed conditionally on the confirmation of the trajectories 01 to Dl via T and 02 to D2 via T by users of the first and second vehicles respectively. 13. The method according to any of steps 1 to 12, wherein at step c) said updated data is transmitted using data transmission means to users of said first and second vehicles respectively.

The method according to any of steps 1 to 13, wherein the trips described by said first and second carpooling trip data records are scheduled to take place within a common timeframe, said timeframe being stored in said first and second carpooling trip data records.

15. A carpooling platform comprising a computing node in a communication network having access to a database, the database comprising at least two carpooling trip data records, wherein a first data record associates a first vehicle with geographical data describing a first trajectory from a first origin 01 to a first destination Dl, wherein a second data record associates a second vehicle with geographical data describing a second trajectory from a second origin 02 to a second destination D2, and wherein said first and second trajectories do not intersect; the computing node further comprising data processing means configured to carry out the method according to any of claims 1 to 14.

16. A computer program comprising computer readable code means, which when run on a computer, causes the computer to carry out the method according to any of claims 1 to 14. 17. A computer program product comprising a computer-readable medium on which the computer program according to claim 15 is stored.

18. A computer configured for carrying out the method according to any of claims 1 to 17.