CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of priority to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2020-0026645, filed in the Korean Intellectual Property Office on Mar. 3, 2020, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a system and a method for handling a lost item in an autonomous vehicle.

BACKGROUND

As an autonomous driving technology is developed, a shared mobility service such as a robot taxi and a purpose built vehicle (PBV) has emerged. Because the shared mobility service targets a large number of unspecified individuals, protection of personal information of a user has become an issue. During a service of a vehicle that may be used by a large number of unspecified individuals, such as the robot taxi or the PBV, the vehicle can be operated unmanned without a separate administrator, although management of a lost item of an occupant in the vehicle, hygiene of the vehicle, and the like is necessary.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems occurring in the prior art while advantages achieved by the prior art are maintained intact.

An aspect of the present disclosure provides a system and a method for handling a lost item in an autonomous vehicle that monitor an interior of the vehicle so as not to violate privacy regulations when providing a shared mobility service to sense the lost item, and take follow-up measures for the sensed lost item.

The technical problems to be solved by the present inventive concept are not limited to the aforementioned problems, and any other technical problems not mentioned herein will be clearly understood from the following description by those skilled in the art to which the present disclosure pertains.

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, a system for handling a lost item in an autonomous vehicle includes the vehicle including a vision sensor configured to respectively capture a first vehicle interior image and a second vehicle interior image when a passenger boards and alights from the vehicle and transmit the captured first vehicle interior image and second vehicle interior image to a server, and the server configured to compare the first vehicle interior image with the second vehicle interior image and to transmit lost item information to a user terminal associated with the passenger when the lost item in the vehicle is sensed.

The vehicle may be configured to determine, based on whether the passenger agreed, a time point before the boarding or after the boarding as a first capturing time point, and a time point after the alighting or before the alighting as a second capturing time point.

The vehicle may be configured to blur or delete a region matching a boarding location of another passenger in the first vehicle interior image in a state where the another passenger is boarded the vehicle at the first capturing time point.

The vehicle may be configured to blur or delete a region matching a boarding location of another passenger in the second vehicle interior image in a state where the another passenger is boarded the vehicle at the second capturing time point.

The vehicle may be configured to determine whether the vehicle has arrived at a calling location based on a vehicle location.

The vehicle may be configured to determine whether the vehicle has arrived at the calling location additionally based on at least one of a vehicle speed and/or brake state information.

The vehicle may be configured to sense a time point before the boarding of the passenger based on door status information.

The vehicle may be configured to sense the passenger based on information provided by at least one of a weight sensor, the vision sensor, a camera, an ultrasonic sensor, and/or a radar.

The vehicle may be configured to determine service end of the passenger based on completion of service fee payment and occupant location information.

The vehicle may be configured to sense a time point after the alighting of the passenger based on at least one of door status information, an external button signal, information provided by a weight sensor, information provided by an ultrasonic sensor, information provided by a radar, and/or information provided by the vision sensor.

The server may be configured to transmit the lost item information to a business operator when the lost item in the vehicle is sensed.

The lost item in the vehicle may be at least one of belongings of the passenger, a trash, and/or a garbage.

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, a method for handling a lost item in an autonomous vehicle includes a first step of receiving, by a server, a first vehicle interior image and a second vehicle interior image respectively captured through a vision sensor when a passenger boards and alights from the vehicle, a second step of comparing, by the server, the first vehicle interior image with the second vehicle interior image and to sense the lost item in the vehicle, and a third step of transmitting, by the server, lost item information to a user terminal associated with the passenger.

The first step may include determining a time point before the boarding or after the boarding as a first capturing time point based on whether the passenger agreed to be captured, and determining a time point after the alighting or before the alighting as a second capturing time point based on whether the passenger agreed to be captured.

The first step may include blurring or deleting a region matching a boarding location of another passenger in the first vehicle interior image when the another passenger exists in the vehicle at the first capturing time point.

The first step may include blurring or deleting a region matching a boarding location of another passenger in the second vehicle interior image in a state where the another passenger is boarded the vehicle at the second capturing time point.

The first step may include determining, by the vehicle, whether the vehicle has arrived at a calling location based on a vehicle location.

The first step further may include determining, by the vehicle, whether the vehicle has arrived at the calling location additionally based on at least one of a vehicle speed and/or brake state information.

The first step may include sensing, by the vehicle, a time point before the boarding of the passenger based on door status information.

The first step may include sensing, by the vehicle, the passenger based on information provided by at least one of a weight sensor, the vision sensor, a camera, an ultrasonic sensor, and/or a radar.

The first step may include determining, by the vehicle, service end of the passenger based on completion of service fee payment and occupant location information.

The first step may further include sensing a time point after the alighting of the passenger, by the vehicle, based on at least one of door status information, an external button signal, information provided by a weight sensor, information provided by an ultrasonic sensor, information provided by a radar, and/or information provided by the vision sensor.

The first step may further include transmitting, by the server, the lost item information to a business operator when the lost item in the vehicle is sensed.

The lost item in the vehicle may be at least one of belongings of the passenger, a trash, and/or a garbage.

