WO2024134897A1

WO2024134897A1 - Vehicle dispatch management device and vehicle dispatch management method

Info

Publication number: WO2024134897A1
Application number: PCT/JP2022/047727
Authority: WO
Inventors: 祥代福山; 知己平林
Original assignee: 日産自動車株式会社
Priority date: 2022-12-23
Filing date: 2022-12-23
Publication date: 2024-06-27

Abstract

The present invention is a vehicle dispatch management device that manages on-demand vehicle dispatch services. The device creates vehicle dispatch plans for candidate vehicles on the basis of a user's vehicle dispatch request, causes the user's terminal device to display a request for approval of the created vehicle dispatch plan for one vehicle, receives an approval notification transmitted from the terminal device in response to the request, confirms the vehicle dispatch plan for the one vehicle, and transmits a vehicle dispatch instruction based on the confirmed vehicle dispatch plan to the one vehicle. When creating each vehicle dispatch plan, the device calculates an estimated time that it will take to confirm the vehicle dispatch plan after responding to the vehicle dispatch request, and calculates an expected arrival time at the boarding location in the vehicle dispatch plan on the basis of the calculated estimated time. The device also causes a vehicle dispatch plan suggestion screen based on the approval request to be displayed to present the expected arrival time at the boarding location to the user.

Description

Vehicle allocation management device and vehicle allocation management method

The present invention relates to vehicle dispatch management technology, and in particular to a vehicle dispatch management device and a vehicle dispatch management method for managing vehicle dispatch on an on-demand basis.

Mobility services are known as services that provide smooth transportation of passengers and/or luggage by vehicle. In recent years, against the backdrop of a decrease in transportation demand due to population decline and labor shortages, mobility services that transport passengers and luggage simultaneously in a single vehicle have been proposed.

For example, the following Patent Document 1 discloses a shared vehicle operation scheduling system for a shared vehicle operation service that accepts requests for use from user terminals via a network and creates on-demand an optimal shared vehicle operation schedule indicating the locations that each available shared vehicle will visit from now on, the scheduled visit times, and the scheduled departure times.

JP 2002-140788 A

In the system disclosed in the above-mentioned Patent Document 1, when creating schedules for each vehicle, a root schedule is created based on the planned arrival time at or departure time from the location to be visited after the current time after the time the use request is received, and a solution schedule is searched for from the root schedule by performing an optimal schedule search.

However, this system did not take into account the time lag between when a request for use was received and when the schedule was determined, and no conditions for passing points were set when recreating the schedule. This meant that vehicles could not operate according to the created schedule, which could result in delays. Furthermore, if a vehicle was already traveling on a route between destinations, the schedule could not be changed and re-created, making it difficult to operate vehicles flexibly and reducing operational efficiency.

The present invention aims to provide a vehicle dispatch management device and a vehicle dispatch management method that, when a new dispatch request is made for a vehicle traveling on a specified operating route, can accurately determine the scheduled arrival time of the vehicle at the boarding point in response to the new dispatch request.

The present invention, which aims to solve the above problems, comprises the following invention-specific matters and technical features.

That is, the present invention according to one aspect is a vehicle dispatch management device that manages vehicle dispatch in response to a dispatch request. The vehicle dispatch management device includes a dispatch request acquisition unit that acquires the dispatch request from a terminal device, a dispatch plan creation unit that creates a dispatch plan including a boarding location for each of one or more candidate vehicles extracted from the plurality of vehicles based on the acquired dispatch request, and confirms the dispatch plan for a specific vehicle in the created dispatch plan, an acceptance processing unit that transmits the created dispatch plan for the candidate vehicle to the terminal device, and a dispatch instruction unit that transmits the confirmed dispatch plan to the specific vehicle. The vehicle dispatch plan creation unit includes a predicted time calculation unit that calculates a predicted time until the vehicle dispatch plan is confirmed in response to the dispatch request. Furthermore, the vehicle dispatch plan creation unit calculates a predicted arrival time at the boarding location in the vehicle dispatch plan based on the predicted time calculated by the predicted time calculation unit. Furthermore, the acceptance processing unit controls so that the vehicle dispatch plan for the candidate vehicle including the predicted arrival time is displayed on the terminal device.

The present invention according to another aspect is a vehicle dispatch management method by a vehicle dispatch management device that manages vehicle dispatch in response to a dispatch request. The method includes acquiring the vehicle dispatch request from a terminal device, creating a vehicle dispatch plan including a boarding location for each of one or more candidate vehicles extracted from a plurality of vehicles based on the acquired vehicle dispatch request, transmitting the created vehicle dispatch plan for the candidate vehicles to the terminal device and displaying the vehicle dispatch plan on the terminal device, confirming the vehicle dispatch plan for a specific vehicle among the candidate vehicles in response to the transmitted vehicle dispatch request, and transmitting the confirmed vehicle dispatch plan to the specific vehicle. Creating the vehicle dispatch plan includes calculating a predicted time until the vehicle dispatch plan is confirmed in response to the acquired vehicle dispatch request, and calculating an expected arrival time at the boarding location in the vehicle dispatch plan based on the calculated predicted time. Also, displaying includes displaying the calculated expected arrival time.

According to the present invention, when a new dispatch request is made for a vehicle traveling along a specified route, it becomes possible to accurately determine the estimated arrival time of the vehicle in response to the new dispatch request.

Other technical features, objects, and effects or advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following embodiments described with reference to the accompanying drawings. The effects described in this specification are merely examples and are not limiting, and other effects may also be present.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a vehicle dispatch management system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a functional configuration model of a vehicle dispatch control device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining derivation of a route pattern in the vehicle dispatch management system according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a sequence chart for explaining an outline of a vehicle dispatch service in the vehicle dispatch management system according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5A is a flowchart for explaining an example of a vehicle dispatch management process by the vehicle dispatch management device according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5B is a flowchart for explaining an example of a vehicle dispatch management process by the vehicle dispatch management device according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining an example of a vehicle dispatch management process performed by the vehicle dispatch management device according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining vehicle travel routes in the vehicle dispatch management system according to one embodiment of the present invention.

Below, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. However, the embodiment described below is merely an example, and there is no intention to exclude the application of various modifications and techniques not explicitly described below. The present invention can be implemented with various modifications (for example, combining the various embodiments) without departing from the spirit of the invention. In addition, in the description of the drawings below, identical or similar parts are represented by the same or similar reference numerals. The drawings are schematic and do not necessarily correspond to actual dimensions, ratios, etc. The drawings may also include parts with different dimensional relationships and ratios.

1 is a diagram for explaining an example of a vehicle dispatch management system according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the vehicle dispatch management system 1 includes a vehicle dispatch management device 10, a terminal device 20, and a vehicle V, which are connected to each other so that they can communicate with each other via a communication network N. The vehicle dispatch management system 1 of the present disclosure provides, for example, an on-demand vehicle dispatch service using multiple vehicles V for a certain area. An "on-demand vehicle dispatch service" is a service that immediately responds to a vehicle dispatch request from a user and assigns (dispatches) a specific vehicle to the user. In other words, in an on-demand vehicle dispatch service, there is no vehicle dispatch reservation time specified by the user. In addition, "immediate response" is a concept that includes not only dispatching a vehicle immediately in response to a vehicle dispatch request from a user, but also a certain amount of time that the user can normally tolerate. The vehicle dispatch management system 1 of the present disclosure is based on such an "on-demand vehicle dispatch service".

The vehicle dispatch management device 10 is a computing device that comprehensively manages a vehicle dispatch service using multiple vehicles V in a target area. The vehicle dispatch management device 10, for example, implements a vehicle dispatch management server program and executes the vehicle dispatch management server program under the control of a processor, thereby realizing the vehicle dispatch service disclosed herein.

The vehicle dispatch management device 10 includes various databases 12 that manage data necessary to realize such a vehicle dispatch service. The databases 12 include, for example, an operation record database 12a, a user information database 12b, a map database 12c, a vehicle information database 12d, and a vehicle dispatch plan database 12e (see FIG. 2). In this example, the databases 12 are configured as part of the vehicle dispatch management device 10, but are not limited to this, and all or part of the databases may be configured separately from the vehicle dispatch management device 10.

Overall, the vehicle dispatch management device 10 accepts a dispatch request for a vehicle V from a user who wishes to dispatch a vehicle, creates and confirms a dispatch plan for a vehicle V that is selectively assigned to the dispatch request, and issues dispatch instructions to the vehicle V according to the confirmed dispatch plan. The dispatch plan is confirmed, for example, in response to the user's consent.

The following description uses as an example a request for dispatch of a vehicle from a user who is a passenger for a ride, but the request for dispatch may also be a request for dispatch of luggage from a user who is a shipper (a luggage delivery company or a general public). Therefore, a general user who is not a luggage delivery company may also make a request for dispatch of luggage delivery to have their luggage delivered. The request for dispatch includes, for example, information regarding the user name, the type of dispatch request, the desired boarding and disembarking locations (desired boarding and disembarking locations), the transportation details (the number of passengers, etc.) and the like, but is not limited to this.

The dispatch plan includes a driving route that specifies the route from the location where the vehicle V is waiting (the starting waiting location), passing through several points (boarding and disembarking points) along the way where the user gets on and off, to the final waiting location (not necessarily the same as the initial waiting location). When creating or updating a dispatch plan for a vehicle traveling along a specified driving route based on a new dispatch request, the dispatch management device 10 of the present disclosure predicts the time until the dispatch plan is finalized, and creates the dispatch plan using a predicted position of the vehicle V according to the predicted time. This makes it possible to calculate the expected arrival time at the boarding location based on the driving route that passes through the predicted position due to movement during the expected time from the position of the vehicle V at the time of receipt of the dispatch request by the user until the dispatch plan is finalized.

The vehicle V is a vehicle registered in the vehicle information database 12d and is provided for use by the user. The vehicle V may be of any type (e.g., sedan, minivan, SUV, etc.), but it must be a vehicle capable of carrying at least both passengers and freight. The vehicle V may be an electric vehicle (EV) powered by an on-board battery. The vehicle V may also be a self-driving vehicle capable of completely autonomous driving, and the so-called level of automation does not matter. The vehicle V is equipped with a control device 300 that controls the vehicle V itself or its on-board equipment (e.g., a navigation device) according to instructions from the vehicle dispatch management device 10 (see FIG. 2). The control device 300, for example, acquires position information of the vehicle V via a GPS system, transmits this to the vehicle dispatch management device 10, and receives dispatch instructions from the vehicle dispatch management device 10 to control the operation of various devices or equipment of the vehicle V. The control device 300 includes, for example, a navigation function that presents a driving route according to a dispatch plan, and an autonomous driving control function that follows the driving route of the vehicle V if the vehicle is a fully autonomous vehicle.

The terminal device 20 is, for example, a computing device that allows a user wishing to ride to make a vehicle dispatch request by operating a user interface. The terminal device 20 is, for example, a smartphone, a pad computer, a notebook personal computer, a desktop computer, etc., but is not limited to these. The terminal device 20 implements, for example, a vehicle dispatch management client program (a so-called vehicle dispatch application). The terminal device 20 executes the vehicle dispatch application under the control of the processor, thereby enabling the user to use the vehicle dispatch service of the vehicle dispatch management device 10. For example, the user can make a vehicle dispatch request from a vehicle dispatch request screen (not shown) on the user interface of the terminal device 20, and in response to this, accept the vehicle dispatch plan created by the vehicle dispatch management device 10, thereby making a reservation for a ride in the vehicle V or a reservation for baggage delivery.

In this way, in the vehicle dispatch management system 1 disclosed herein, in an on-demand vehicle dispatch service, the time until a vehicle dispatch plan is finalized in response to a new vehicle dispatch request is predicted, and the vehicle dispatch plan is created using the predicted position of the vehicle according to the predicted time. In other words, the predicted arrival time at the boarding point is calculated based on the operating route that passes through the predicted position due to movement from the position of vehicle V at the time the vehicle dispatch request is received to the predicted time until the vehicle dispatch plan is finalized, thereby improving the accuracy of the predicted arrival time.

2 is a block diagram showing an example of a functional configuration model of a vehicle dispatch management device according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the vehicle dispatch management device 10 is configured as a functional configuration model including functional components such as a front-end processing unit 110, a demand information acquisition unit 120, a vehicle dispatch request acquisition unit 130, a boarding and alighting point determination unit 140, a vehicle dispatch plan creation unit 150, a driving route planning unit 160, and a vehicle communication interface unit 170. As described above, the vehicle dispatch management device 10 also includes various databases 12. Such a functional model is realized by the vehicle dispatch management device 10 executing a vehicle dispatch management server program under the control of a processor, thereby cooperating with various hardware resources. The functional configuration model shown here is an example, and all or part of the functions of a certain functional component may be realized by other functional components. Note that, for convenience of explanation, the figure also shows the configuration of a user's terminal device 20 and part of the control device 300 in the vehicle V.

The operation record database 12a stores information (actual operation information) relating to the past operation records of each vehicle V, for example. The actual operation information includes various specification information such as the operation time (operation start time and end time) of each vehicle V, the operation route, and the mileage. The actual operation information may indicate the actual demand for the vehicle V in a certain time period and/or in a certain area based on the operation time of each vehicle V.

The user information database 12b stores user information about users who use the vehicle dispatch service. The user information includes, for example, a user ID and password, personal attributes, information about the service usage status (number of uses, etc.), and the actual time required from a vehicle dispatch request to the approval of a vehicle dispatch plan. The user information is registered in the user information database 12b under the control of the vehicle dispatch management device 10, for example, when the user inputs certain information when the vehicle dispatch app is first launched.

Map database 12c stores map data for at least the target area of the vehicle dispatch service. The map data includes information on addresses, place names, roads, facility names, etc. The map data may also include information necessary for route searches and environmental information such as road congestion conditions. The map data may be a known data, or may be, for example, an external map database that can be connected via an API.

The vehicle information database 12d stores information (vehicle information) about the vehicle V available for use by the user. The vehicle information includes, for example, information about the vehicle ID, vehicle attributes (vehicle registration number, vehicle model, maximum number of passengers/maximum load capacity, etc.), current dispatch plan, current location, and current status (service status, remaining battery capacity (driving range), number of passengers, and luggage load capacity, etc.). The current location of the vehicle V is updated at any time based on location information transmitted from the vehicle V, as described below.

The vehicle dispatch plan database 12e stores a vehicle dispatch plan for each vehicle V based on a dispatch request. The vehicle dispatch plan includes a driving route from a starting waiting location to a terminal waiting location via several boarding and disembarking points.

The front-end processing unit 110 performs various processes with the user's terminal device 20. As an example, the front-end processing unit 110 refers to the user information database 12b in response to a login request from a dispatch application on the user's terminal device 20 and performs login authentication processing. The front-end processing unit 110 also accepts a dispatch request from the dispatch application on the user's terminal device 20, transfers it to the dispatch request acquisition unit 130, and interacts with the terminal device 20 to receive the user's approval or refusal of the dispatch plan created by the dispatch plan creation unit 150 in response to this. In this disclosure, the front-end processing unit 110 also functions as an approval processing unit under the control of the dispatch plan creation unit 150. That is, the approval processing unit transmits an approval request including the expected arrival time at the boarding point and the disembarking point to the user's terminal device 20, controls so that a dispatch plan proposal screen based on the approval request is displayed on the terminal device 20, and receives a notification of approval or refusal transmitted from the terminal device 20 in response to this.

The demand information acquisition unit 120 acquires demand information regarding the demand for vehicles V at a predetermined timing. For example, the demand information acquisition unit 120 refers to the vehicle information database 12d, calculates the current demand based on the number of waiting vehicles V that are not currently assigned any dispatch plan (number of waiting vehicles), and outputs this as demand information.

The demand information acquisition unit 120 may be configured to calculate the future demand amount in addition to the current demand amount of the vehicle V. For example, the demand information acquisition unit 120 refers to the operation record database 12a, predicts the future demand amount of the vehicle V based on the past actual operation information, etc., and outputs it as demand information. For example, the future demand amount may be the number of vehicles V that are expected to be in demand at a specific time or time period, such as 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, and 1 hour after a reference time (for example, the current time). The demand information acquisition unit 120 may predict the future demand amount by taking into account, in addition to the actual operation information, for example, time/seasonal factors and environmental factors such as event holding. The demand information acquisition unit 120 may include a demand prediction model in which machine learning is performed according to a predetermined machine learning algorithm, with the actual operation information, etc., as explanatory variables and the predicted demand amount as an objective variable. In this way, the demand information acquisition unit 120 predicts the future demand amount, and an optimal vehicle plan can be created by taking into account not only the current demand but also the future demand, thereby enabling efficient operation of the vehicle V.

The dispatch request acquisition unit 130 accepts and acquires a dispatch request from a user via the front-end processing unit 110. The time when the dispatch request acquisition unit 130 accepts the dispatch request becomes the start time of counting various limit times as described below. The dispatch request acquisition unit 130 passes the acquired dispatch request to each of the boarding and alighting point determination unit 140 and the dispatch plan creation unit 150.

Based on the dispatch request delivered, the boarding and alighting location determination unit 140 refers to the map database 12c and determines predefined boarding and alighting locations (e.g., bus stops) shown on the map where the user can actually board and alight. That is, the boarding and alighting location determination unit 140 refers to the map database 12c for the desired boarding location and alighting location specified by the dispatch request, and determines boarding and alighting locations that indicate geographical locations in the target area where the user can actually board and alight. In addition, if the dispatch request does not include a desired boarding or alighting location, the boarding and alighting location determination unit 140 refers to the map database 12c based on the user's current location and determines the boarding and alighting locations. The boarding and alighting location determination unit 140 delivers the determined boarding and alighting locations to the dispatch plan creation unit 150.

The vehicle dispatch plan creation unit 150 extracts candidate vehicles (candidate vehicles v) from among the vehicles V in the target area based on a given dispatch request, creates and confirms a dispatch plan for an optimal vehicle V selected from the candidate vehicles v, and issues dispatch instructions to the vehicle V according to the confirmed dispatch plan. In order to extract the candidate vehicle v, the vehicle dispatch plan creation unit 150 requests the driving route planning unit 160 to derive a route pattern. The vehicle dispatch plan creation unit 150 proposes the created vehicle dispatch plan to the user and confirms it upon receipt of the user's consent. The proposed vehicle dispatch plan includes the expected arrival time of vehicle V at the user's boarding location. The vehicle dispatch plan creation unit 150 may present multiple vehicle dispatch plan candidates to the user, have the user select one vehicle dispatch plan from among them, and confirm it. The vehicle dispatch plan creation unit 150 stores the confirmed vehicle dispatch plan in the vehicle dispatch plan database 12e and notifies the vehicle dispatch instruction unit 172 to issue a dispatch instruction to the vehicle V.

More specifically, the vehicle dispatch plan creation unit 150 first requests the travel route planning unit 160 to derive a route pattern according to the acquired vehicle dispatch request. The route pattern indicates a route that passes through all the boarding and alighting points (waypoints) when a boarding and alighting point is added by a new vehicle dispatch request to a route that passes through the determined boarding and alighting points. In response to the request for derivation of a route pattern from the vehicle dispatch plan creation unit 150, the travel route planning unit 160 refers to the map database 12c and the vehicle information database 12d, extracts one or more vehicles V that can match the vehicle dispatch request as candidate vehicles v, and derives a route pattern according to the boarding and alighting points for each of the extracted candidate vehicles v. In addition, the travel route planning unit 160 can associate the derived route pattern with environmental information such as congested areas, detour routes due to traffic regulations, time/seasonal factors, and event holding. The travel route planning unit 160 passes the derived route pattern to the vehicle dispatch plan creation unit 150.

For example, as shown in FIG. 3, candidate vehicles v(1) to v(3) are extracted based on the geographical relationship between the boarding location Req_PU and the disembarking location Req_DO specified by the dispatch request. Candidate vehicle v(1) is a vehicle for which a route passing through points P(0) to P(1) to P(2) has already been set. Candidate vehicle v(2) is a vehicle waiting at a waiting location S. Candidate vehicle v(3) is a vehicle for which a route passing through points P(0) to P(1) has already been set. Now, looking at candidate vehicle v(1), there are a total of six patterns (route patterns) in which the boarding location Req_PU and the disembarking location Req_DO are added to points P(0) to P(2). Similarly, the route patterns of candidate vehicles v(2) and v(3) are one pattern and three patterns, respectively.
2, the vehicle dispatch plan creation unit 150 includes a predicted time calculation unit 152 that calculates a predicted time until a vehicle dispatch plan is finalized in response to an acquired vehicle dispatch request. As an example, the predicted time calculation unit 152 calculates a predicted time based on an average value of past actual required times calculated by tallying up the times required from when all users who use the vehicle dispatch service make a vehicle dispatch request, to when they accept the proposed vehicle dispatch plan (acceptance request) and when the vehicle dispatch plan is finalized.

Alternatively or additionally, the predicted time calculation unit 152 may calculate the predicted time based on the user's characteristic information. The user's characteristic information may include, for example, the user's age and the number of times the vehicle dispatch service has been used in the past. The user's characteristic information may also include information based on the average time required from when the user has made a vehicle dispatch request in the past until the user accepts the proposed vehicle dispatch plan. Furthermore, the predicted time calculation unit 152 may calculate the predicted time to be shorter than the average of the actual required time in the past for, for example, a user who is not elderly, a user who has used the vehicle dispatch service many times, and/or a user who tends to take a short time from the vehicle dispatch request to acceptance. As a result, for a user who is accustomed to making vehicle dispatch reservations or a user who does not usually spend much time operating the terminal device 20, a predicted time that is more in line with the actual situation is calculated. The predicted time calculation unit 152 may be configured as a demand forecast model in which machine learning has been performed according to a predetermined machine learning algorithm, with the user's characteristic information and the like as explanatory variables and the average required time as a target variable.

The vehicle dispatch plan creation unit 150 attempts to create a vehicle dispatch plan based on each route pattern of the candidate vehicle v derived by the travel route planning unit 160. The vehicle dispatch plan includes a driving route that includes a waiting location as a starting point and a waiting location as an end point in addition to the route pattern. In this case, the vehicle dispatch plan creation unit 150 identifies the predicted position of the candidate vehicle v at the time when the vehicle dispatch plan is expected to be finalized based on the predicted time calculated by the predicted time calculation unit 152 and the position information included in the vehicle information of each vehicle V acquired from the vehicle information acquisition unit 171 described later, and creates a driving route based on the identified predicted position. Furthermore, the vehicle dispatch plan creation unit 150 calculates the predicted arrival time at the boarding point and disembarking point of the user who made the vehicle dispatch request on the driving route. The vehicle dispatch plan creation unit 150 associates the calculated predicted arrival time with the vehicle dispatch plan.

Next, the vehicle dispatch plan creation unit 150 sorts the vehicle dispatch plans in order of the expected arrival time at the boarding location of the user who made the dispatch request, and extracts the vehicle dispatch plan with the earliest expected arrival time from among them. Furthermore, the vehicle dispatch plan creation unit 150 narrows down the vehicle dispatch plans by deleting or excluding vehicle dispatch plans that meet a predetermined exclusion condition. As a predetermined exclusion condition, for example, the vehicle dispatch plan creation unit 150 excludes candidate vehicles v whose cruising distance does not meet a predetermined threshold value. Furthermore, based on the location information acquired from the vehicle information acquisition unit 171, the vehicle dispatch plan creation unit 150 may exclude vehicles V that are in, for example, a busy station area or a congestion-prone area with many intersections from the candidate vehicles v. Furthermore, based on the location information acquired from the vehicle information acquisition unit 171, the vehicle dispatch plan creation unit 150 may exclude vehicles V whose operating route includes a detour route due to traffic regulations such as restrictions on right and left turns and travel direction or construction regulations from the candidate vehicles v. Furthermore, the vehicle dispatch plan creation unit 150 may exclude vehicles V in areas that depend on a predetermined environmental factor from the candidate vehicles v based on the location information acquired from the vehicle information acquisition unit 171. The predetermined environmental factor is, for example, the holding of an event, and since it is expected that the demand for vehicles V will temporarily increase around the facility where the event is held, vehicles V in such areas are excluded from the candidate vehicles v. Furthermore, for example, if the time until a user who has made a new dispatch request boards exceeds a predetermined delay limit time, the dispatch management device 10 excludes the dispatch plan. In this way, by excluding vehicles V in a predetermined vehicle delay area from the candidate vehicles v, it is possible to suppress unexpectedly delayed dispatches in on-demand dispatch services.

When a vehicle dispatch plan proposed by a user is accepted, the vehicle dispatch plan creation unit 150 stores the time required until confirmation as the actual required time in the user information database 12b.

The vehicle communication interface unit 170 exchanges various information with the vehicle V via the communication network N. For example, the vehicle communication interface unit 170 includes a vehicle information acquisition unit 171 that acquires vehicle information including the position information of the vehicle V, and a vehicle dispatch instruction unit 172 that instructs the vehicle V to move according to a vehicle dispatch plan.

The vehicle information acquisition unit 171 communicates with the communication unit 310 of the control device 300 and acquires the location information acquired by the location information acquisition unit 320. The dispatch instruction unit 172 also refers to the dispatch plan database 12f in accordance with the instructions of the dispatch plan creation unit 150, identifies a corresponding dispatch plan, and transmits driving instructions to the vehicle V in accordance with the identified dispatch plan. The control device 300 of the vehicle V that has received the driving instructions uses a navigation function to display a driving route in accordance with the dispatch plan, for example, on the user interface (shown as "UI" in the figure) 330.

FIG. 4 is a sequence chart for explaining an overview of the vehicle dispatch service in a vehicle dispatch management system according to one embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in the figure, a user who wishes to use a ride-hailing service executes a ride-hailing app implemented in the terminal device 20 and inputs the necessary information for a ride-hailing request to a ride-hailing request screen displayed on the user interface, causing the terminal device 20 to transmit a ride-hailing request to the ride-hailing management device 10 (S401). For example, a user who wishes to board a ride (reserve a ride) operates the ride-hailing app to input the boarding and disembarking locations, the number of passengers, etc. The boarding and disembarking locations can be selected, for example, from a geographical map displayed by the ride-hailing app. The boarding location may also be the current location obtained by the GPS function installed in the user's smartphone.

When the vehicle dispatch management device 10 receives a dispatch request from the terminal device 20 (S402), it requests vehicles V in the target area to obtain vehicle information including location information (S403). In response to this, each vehicle V transmits vehicle information including its own location information obtained from the GPS system to the vehicle dispatch management device 10 (S404). Note that the acquisition and transmission of location information by vehicles V may be performed periodically or in response to a transmission request from the vehicle dispatch management device 10. The vehicle dispatch management device 10 acquires the vehicle information including location information transmitted from vehicles V (S402).

Next, the vehicle dispatch management device 10 creates a dispatch plan for the candidate vehicle v extracted based on the user's dispatch request, and proposes this to the user (S405). That is, the vehicle dispatch management device 10 derives a route pattern based on the dispatch request, and creates a dispatch plan for the candidate vehicle v extracted based on the derived route pattern. In this case, the vehicle dispatch management device 10 predicts the time from when the user makes a dispatch request to when the user accepts the proposed dispatch plan, and calculates the expected arrival time at the user's boarding and disembarking points on the operating route based on the predicted time and the position information of each vehicle V. The vehicle dispatch management device 10 further selects an optimal dispatch plan to be proposed to the user according to the calculated expected arrival time and a specified exclusion condition. The vehicle dispatch management device 10 transmits an acceptance request including the contents of the dispatch plan to the terminal device 20 in order to propose the selected dispatch plan to the user.

When the terminal device 20 receives the request for approval of the dispatch plan, it displays it as a dispatch plan proposal screen on the user interface and prompts the user to accept or reject (accept or reject) the proposed dispatch plan (S406). The dispatch plan proposal screen includes the above-mentioned expected arrival time, which allows the user to input acceptance or rejection of the proposed dispatch plan with reference to the expected arrival time, etc. When the user inputs acceptance or rejection on the dispatch plan proposal screen, the terminal device 20 responds by sending an acceptance or rejection notice to the dispatch management device 10 (S407), and the dispatch management device 10 receives the acceptance or rejection notice sent from the terminal device 20 (S408). For example, if the acceptance or rejection notice indicates acceptance of the dispatch plan, the dispatch management device 10 confirms the dispatch plan of the vehicle V according to the dispatch plan, sends a confirmation notice of the dispatch reservation to the terminal device 20, and sends a dispatch instruction to the vehicle V according to the dispatch plan (S409).

When the terminal device 20 receives the notification that the vehicle dispatch reservation has been confirmed, it displays this on the user interface to inform the user that the vehicle dispatch reservation has been confirmed (S410). On the other hand, when the vehicle V receives the dispatch instruction, it displays, for example, on a navigation screen, a driving route according to the dispatch plan indicated in the dispatch instruction in order to navigate the driver (S411). This enables the driver to operate the vehicle V on an on-demand basis in response to the user's dispatch request.

FIGS. 5A and 5B are flowcharts for explaining an example of vehicle dispatch management processing by a vehicle dispatch management device according to one embodiment of the present invention. Such processing is realized by the vehicle dispatch management device 10 executing a vehicle dispatch management server program under the control of a processor, in cooperation with various hardware resources.

As shown in FIG. A, the vehicle dispatch management device 10 waits until a new vehicle dispatch request is received from a user (S501). Meanwhile, for example, a user wishing to ride operates a vehicle dispatch app on the user interface of the terminal device 20 to input a vehicle dispatch request. When a vehicle dispatch request is received from the user (Yes in S501), the vehicle dispatch management device 10 requests each vehicle V to transmit vehicle information, and acquires the vehicle information including location information transmitted from each vehicle V (S502).

Next, the dispatch management device 10 refers to the map database 12c based on the boarding and disembarking locations specified in the dispatch request, and determines the boarding and disembarking locations (boarding and disembarking locations) where the user will actually board and disembark (S503).

Next, the vehicle dispatch management device 10 extracts one or more candidate vehicles v according to the determined boarding or disembarking locations (S504). For example, the vehicle dispatch management device 10 extracts a vehicle V in operation near the boarding location as a candidate vehicle v. A vehicle V in operation is a vehicle that is waiting at a waiting location in a state where it can provide service, or is actually transporting passengers. This makes it possible to exclude vehicles V that are located far away from the boarding or disembarking locations from the candidate vehicles v, for example, and to reduce the number of route patterns to be derived.

Next, the vehicle dispatch management device 10 derives a route pattern for each of the extracted candidate vehicles v by referring to the map database 12c (S505). As described above, the route pattern indicates a route that passes through all of the determined boarding and alighting points (waypoints) when new boarding and alighting points are added to the route that passes through these boarding and alighting points. Next, the vehicle dispatch management device 10 creates a vehicle dispatch plan based on the derived route pattern (S506). The vehicle dispatch plan includes a driving route that includes a waiting place as a starting point and a waiting place as an end point, as well as a predicted position of the candidate vehicle v according to the predicted time until the vehicle dispatch plan is finalized, in addition to the route pattern. A new vehicle dispatch plan is created for the vehicle V waiting at the waiting place. In addition, a new vehicle dispatch plan is created or updated for the vehicle V that is operating according to the already set vehicle dispatch plan, based on the derived route pattern. Furthermore, the vehicle dispatch plan creation unit 150 calculates the predicted arrival time at the boarding and alighting points of the user who made the vehicle dispatch request on the driving route. Details of the vehicle dispatch plan creation process will be described later.

Next, the vehicle dispatch management device 10 narrows down the vehicle dispatch plans by excluding those that do not meet a predetermined exclusion condition from the created vehicle dispatch plans (S507). For example, the vehicle dispatch management device 10 excludes vehicle dispatch plans of candidate vehicles whose cruising distance does not meet a predetermined threshold value. In addition, based on the location information acquired from the vehicle information acquisition unit 171, the vehicle dispatch plan creation unit 150 excludes from the candidate vehicles v, for example, vehicles V that are in a congested area such as in front of a busy station or a densely packed intersection, or vehicles V whose travel route includes a detour route due to traffic regulations such as restrictions on right and left turns or restrictions on the direction of travel, or construction restrictions.

Next, the vehicle dispatch management device 10 calculates an evaluation value for the narrowed down vehicle dispatch plans according to a predetermined evaluation function, and selects one vehicle dispatch plan with the highest calculated evaluation value (S508). The predetermined evaluation function is, for example, a function defined such that the shorter the ride time from the boarding time to the disembarking time, the higher the evaluation value.

Then, the vehicle dispatch management device 10 proposes the contents of the selected vehicle dispatch plan to the user (S509 in FIG. 5B). That is, the vehicle dispatch management device 10 transmits the contents of the created current vehicle dispatch plan to the terminal device 20, and in response, the terminal device 20 displays the contents on the user interface and prompts the user to accept or reject the vehicle dispatch plan.

The vehicle dispatch management device 10 determines whether or not the proposed vehicle dispatch plan has been accepted by the user (S510). If the vehicle dispatch management device 10 accepts the proposed vehicle dispatch plan from the user (Yes in S510), the vehicle dispatch management device 10 confirms the current vehicle dispatch plan (S511). The vehicle dispatch management device 10 stores the confirmed vehicle dispatch plan in the vehicle dispatch plan database 12e. Next, the vehicle dispatch management device 10 transmits a notification of confirmation of the vehicle dispatch reservation to the terminal device 20, and transmits a dispatch instruction based on the vehicle dispatch plan to the vehicle V (S512).

In contrast, if the vehicle dispatch management device 10 receives a non-acceptance (rejection) from the user of the proposed vehicle dispatch plan (No in S510), it cancels the current vehicle dispatch plan based on the user's vehicle dispatch request (S513). In this case, the vehicle dispatch management device 10 returns the temporarily held vehicle dispatch plan that was used to recreate the vehicle dispatch plan to the original held vehicle dispatch plan. If the user desires a different vehicle dispatch service, they will make a new vehicle dispatch request.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining an example of a vehicle dispatch management process performed by a vehicle dispatch management device according to one embodiment of the present invention. More specifically, this figure is a flowchart showing the details of the vehicle dispatch plan narrowing process (S506) shown in FIG. 5A.

As shown in the figure, the vehicle dispatch management device 10 calculates the predicted time from the time when a vehicle dispatch request is accepted to the time when a vehicle dispatch plan is finalized (S601). As described above, the vehicle dispatch management device 10 calculates the predicted time based on, for example, the average value of past actual required times, which are calculated by aggregating the time required from the time when a vehicle dispatch request is accepted to the time when a vehicle dispatch plan is finalized. Alternatively, the vehicle dispatch management device 10 may calculate the predicted time based on user characteristic information.

Next, the vehicle dispatch management device 10 identifies the predicted positions of the candidate vehicles v at the time when the vehicle dispatch plan is expected to be finalized based on the calculated predicted time and the position information of each candidate vehicle v (S602). Next, the vehicle dispatch management device 10 creates a driving route that passes through the identified predicted positions (S603).

Next, the vehicle dispatch management device 10 calculates the expected arrival times at the boarding and disembarking locations of the user who made the vehicle dispatch request according to the created operating route (S604), and then creates a vehicle dispatch plan that associates the calculated expected arrival times (S605).

In this way, the vehicle dispatch management device 10 predicts the time until a vehicle dispatch plan is finalized in response to a user's vehicle dispatch request, and creates the vehicle dispatch plan using the predicted position of the vehicle according to the predicted time, so that the expected arrival time at the boarding location can be accurately determined based on the vehicle V's operating route from the predicted position.
For example, as shown in Fig. 5, assume that a vehicle V is traveling in a city according to a route in a vehicle dispatch plan, and a user transmits a vehicle dispatch request from a vehicle dispatch application of the terminal device 20 at a boarding point P_PU. Also assume that the position of the vehicle V at the time when the vehicle dispatch management device 10 accepts the vehicle dispatch request is a point P_Req.

If the predicted position of vehicle V according to the predicted time until the dispatch plan for vehicle V is finalized is not taken into consideration, the operating route of vehicle V will be the shortest route from point P_Req to boarding point P_PU (shown by the dashed line in the figure). However, by the time the user responds to and accepts the proposed dispatch plan, vehicle V has already passed the previous intersection and is no longer able to take the shortest route. Therefore, if the predicted arrival time at boarding point P_PU is calculated according to such an operating route, there is a risk that there will be a large discrepancy between the actual arrival time of vehicle V and the predicted arrival time.

On the other hand, the vehicle dispatch management device 10 disclosed herein calculates the predicted time until a vehicle dispatch plan is finalized for a candidate vehicle v based on a dispatch request, and predicts the position of vehicle V after the calculated predicted time. The position of vehicle V at this time is assumed to be point P_Est. In other words, vehicle V has traveled a distance d past the intersection based on the predicted time. The vehicle dispatch management device 10 calculates the predicted arrival time at boarding point P_PU for the operating route (shown by a solid line in the figure) from point P_Req via point P_Est to boarding point P_PU. This enables the vehicle dispatch management device 10 to present a more accurate predicted arrival time to the user.

As described above, according to this embodiment, in an on-demand vehicle dispatch service, the time until a vehicle dispatch plan is finalized in response to a new vehicle dispatch request is predicted, and the vehicle dispatch plan is created using the predicted position of the vehicle according to the predicted time, so that the expected arrival time at the boarding location can be accurately determined based on the operating route of vehicle V from the predicted position. Therefore, a more accurate expected arrival time can be presented to the user, and the user can accept or reject the proposed vehicle dispatch plan based on this.

The above embodiments are merely examples for explaining the present invention, and are not intended to limit the present invention to these embodiments. The present invention can be implemented in various forms without departing from the gist of the invention.

For example, in the methods disclosed herein, steps, operations, or functions may be performed in parallel or in a different order, provided that the results are not inconsistent. The steps, operations, and functions described are provided merely as examples, and some of the steps, operations, and functions may be omitted or combined into one, or other steps, operations, or functions may be added, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In addition, although various embodiments are disclosed in this specification, specific features (technical matters) in one embodiment can be added to or replaced with specific features in another embodiment, with appropriate modifications, and such forms are also included in the gist of the present invention.

1...vehicle dispatch management system 10...vehicle dispatch management device 110...front-end processing unit 120...demand information acquisition unit 121...current demand calculation unit 122...demand forecasting unit 130...vehicle dispatch request acquisition unit 140...boarding and alighting location determination unit 150...vehicle dispatch plan creation unit 152...predicted time calculation unit 160...travel route planning unit 170...vehicle communication interface unit 171...vehicle information acquisition unit 172...vehicle dispatch instruction unit 12...database 12a...operation record database 12b...user information database 12c...map database 12d...vehicle information database 12e...vehicle dispatch plan database 20...terminal device N...communication network V...vehicle 300...control device 310...communication unit 320...location information acquisition unit 330...user interface unit

Claims

A vehicle dispatch management device that manages vehicle dispatch in response to a vehicle dispatch request,
A vehicle dispatch request acquisition unit that acquires the vehicle dispatch request from a terminal device;
a vehicle dispatch plan creation unit that creates a vehicle dispatch plan including a boarding location for each of one or more candidate vehicles extracted from the plurality of vehicles based on the acquired vehicle dispatch request, and determines the vehicle dispatch plan for a specific vehicle from among the created vehicle dispatch plans;
an approval processing unit that transmits the created vehicle allocation plan of the candidate vehicles to the terminal device;
a dispatch instruction unit that transmits the determined dispatch plan to the specific vehicle;
the vehicle dispatch plan creation unit includes a predicted time calculation unit that calculates a predicted time until the vehicle dispatch plan is determined in response to the vehicle dispatch request;
The vehicle dispatch plan creation unit calculates an expected arrival time at the boarding location in the vehicle dispatch plan based on the predicted time calculated by the predicted time calculation unit,
The consent processing unit controls so that the vehicle dispatch plan of the candidate vehicles including the expected arrival time is displayed on the terminal device.
Vehicle dispatch management device.
a vehicle information acquisition unit that requests vehicle information including vehicle position information from each of the plurality of vehicles and acquires the vehicle information from each of the vehicles;
The vehicle allocation plan creation unit creates the vehicle allocation plan based on the acquired vehicle information.
The vehicle dispatch management device according to claim 1.
the vehicle dispatch plan creation unit calculates the expected arrival time based on the position information of the acquired vehicle information and the calculated predicted time;
The vehicle dispatch management device according to claim 2.
The vehicle allocation plan creation unit excludes the candidate vehicles in a congestion occurrence area from the vehicle allocation plan based on the position information.
The vehicle dispatch management device according to claim 2.
The vehicle allocation plan creation unit excludes the vehicle allocation plan of the candidate vehicles that includes a detour route due to a traffic regulation based on the location information.
The vehicle dispatch management device according to claim 2.
The vehicle allocation plan creation unit excludes, from the vehicle allocation plan, the candidate vehicles that are in an area that depends on a predetermined environmental factor, based on the location information.
The vehicle dispatch management device according to claim 2.
The predicted time calculation unit calculates the predicted time based on characteristic information of the user.
The vehicle dispatch management device according to claim 1.
The characteristic information includes information based on an average value of a time required from when the user made the dispatch request to when the user accepted the acceptance request in the past.
The vehicle dispatch management device according to claim 7.
The characteristic information includes information based on the number of times the user has used the ride-hailing service in the past and/or the age of the user.
The vehicle dispatch management device according to claim 7.
A vehicle dispatch instruction unit that transmits the determined vehicle dispatch plan to the terminal device.
The vehicle dispatch management device according to claim 1.
A vehicle allocation management method by a vehicle allocation management device that manages vehicle allocation in response to a vehicle allocation request, comprising:
acquiring the dispatch request from a terminal device;
creating a vehicle dispatch plan including a boarding location for each of one or more candidate vehicles extracted from a plurality of vehicles based on the acquired vehicle dispatch request;
Transmitting the created vehicle allocation plan of the candidate vehicles to the terminal device and displaying the vehicle allocation plan on the terminal device;
determining the dispatch plan for a particular one of the candidate vehicles in response to the dispatch request transmitted;
and transmitting the determined dispatch plan to the specific vehicle.
Creating the vehicle dispatch plan includes:
Calculating a predicted time until the dispatch plan is finalized in response to the acquired dispatch request;
Calculating an expected arrival time at the boarding location in the vehicle dispatch plan based on the calculated predicted time,
The displaying includes displaying the calculated expected arrival time.
Vehicle allocation management methods.