TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to the field of computer technologies, and in particular, to a self-driving car scheduling method, a car scheduling server, and a self-driving car.

BACKGROUND

A self-driving car is also referred to as a driverless car, a computer driving car, or a wheeled mobile robot, and is an intelligent car that implements unmanned driving using a computer system. The self-driving car relies on coordination among an artificial intelligence system, a visual computation system, a radar system, a monitoring system, and a global positioning system, such that a computer can automatically and safely operate the self-driving car without an active operation of a person. As self-driving cars become popularized, at present it becomes an emerging means of travel to use a self-driving car as a taxi. To enable self-driving cars used as taxis to maximally meet different ride requirements, how to schedule the self-driving cars becomes a problem to which a person skilled in the art pays relatively much attention.

In other approaches, cars are usually scheduled in the following manner. A car scheduling server receives each ride request by means of a telephone, where a ride request includes a location of the ride request; every time when a new ride request is received, the car scheduling server acquires a location of each car within a management range, and determines, from assigned cars, cars located within a preset range of a location corresponding to the new ride request; and finally, determines, from the cars within the preset range, a car having a minimum increase in a driving distance after the new ride request is added, and assigns the new ride request to the car.

In a process of implementing the present disclosure, the inventor finds that other approaches at least have the following problems.

In a process of car scheduling, because car scheduling is performed according to only locations of assigned cars and a ride request, reference factors for scheduling are undiversified, causing low scheduling precision. For example, after a car that responds to a new ride request is determined, if there is a real-time severe traffic jam at a location of the car or a traffic accident occurs on a driving course, the selected car cannot necessarily arrive at a location corresponding to the new ride request soonest, and scheduling precision is affected.

SUMMARY

To resolve the problem in other approaches, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a self-driving car scheduling method, a car scheduling server, and a self-driving car. The technical solutions are as follows.

According to a first aspect, a self-driving car scheduling method is provided, including receiving a ride request, where the ride request includes at least a ride starting location, a ride destination, and an expected destination arrival time; determining, according to the ride request and driving information of self-driving cars within a management range, at least one first candidate car from the multiple self-driving cars; calculating, according to current location information, current road status information, and planned route information of each first candidate car, a first time required by each first candidate car to arrive at the ride destination; determining a final candidate car from the at least one first candidate car according to the first time corresponding to each first candidate car, where the final candidate car at least meets the expected destination arrival time, and delivering the ride request to the final candidate car, such that the final candidate car responds to the ride request.

In a first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, before the determining, according to the ride request and driving information of self-driving cars within a management range, at least one first candidate car from the multiple self-driving cars, the method further includes acquiring the driving information of the self-driving cars within the management range, where the driving information includes at least current location information, current road status information, planned route information, and a planned destination arrival time; and the determining, according to the ride request and driving information of self-driving cars within a management range, at least one first candidate car from the multiple self-driving cars includes determining the at least one first candidate car from the multiple self-driving cars according to the ride starting location and the ride destination, where a planned route or an extended route of the planned route of the first candidate car includes the ride starting location and the ride destination.

With reference to the first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the first aspect, before the determining the at least one first candidate car from the multiple self-driving cars according to the ride starting location and the ride destination, the method further includes, if the ride request includes ride sharing information and a quantity of passengers, determining, from the self-driving cars within the management range, at least one second candidate car that has vacant seats whose quantity is not less than the quantity of passengers and that agrees with ride sharing; and the determining the at least one first candidate car from the multiple self-driving cars according to the ride starting location and the ride destination includes determining the at least one first candidate car from the at least one second candidate car according to the ride starting location and the ride destination.

With reference to the first aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the ride request further includes passenger information, and the delivering the ride request to the final candidate car includes delivering the ride request including the passenger information to the final candidate car, such that after arriving at the ride starting location, the final candidate car determines a sender of the ride request according to the passenger information, where the passenger information includes at least one of a passenger feature identifier or a passenger nearby typical road identifier.

With reference to the first aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, after the delivering the ride request to the final candidate car, the method further includes sending security verification information of the final candidate car to a sending terminal of the passenger request, such that when arriving at the ride starting location, the final candidate car verifies, according to the security verification information, security verification information provided by a sender of the passenger request.

With reference to the first aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, after the delivering the ride request to the final candidate car, the method further includes updating planned route information of the final candidate car, and sending updated planned route information to the final candidate car, such that the final candidate car determines a driving route according to the updated planned route information.

With reference to the first aspect, in a sixth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, after the delivering the ride request to the final candidate car, the method further includes sending identifier information of the final candidate car to a sending terminal of the passenger request, such that a sender of the passenger request determines the final candidate car according to the identifier information of the final candidate car.

With reference to the first aspect or the first to sixth possible implementation manners of the first aspect, in a seventh possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the method further includes if the final candidate car does not exist among the multiple self-driving cars within the management range, performing scheduling again on a newly received ride request and all unexecuted ride requests, and sending a scheduling result to a corresponding self-driving car.

According to a second aspect, a car scheduling server is provided, the server including a ride request receiving module configured to receive a ride request, where the ride request includes at least a ride starting location, a ride destination, and an expected destination arrival time; a first candidate car determining module configured to determine, according to the ride request and driving information of self-driving cars within a management range, at least one first candidate car from the multiple self-driving cars; a first time calculation module configured to calculate, according to current location information, current road status information, and planned route information of each first candidate car, a first time required by each first candidate car to arrive at the ride destination, a final candidate car determining module configured to determine a final candidate car from the at least one first candidate car according to the first time corresponding to each first candidate car, where the final candidate car at least meets the expected destination arrival time; and a ride request delivery module configured to deliver the ride request to the final candidate car, such that the final candidate car responds to the ride request.

In a first possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the server further includes a driving information acquiring module configured to acquire the driving information of the self-driving cars within the management range, where the driving information includes at least current location information, current road status information, planned route information, and a planned destination arrival time, where the first candidate car determining module is configured to determine the at least one first candidate car from the multiple self-driving cars according to the ride starting location and the ride destination, where a planned route or an extended route of the planned route of the first candidate car includes the ride starting location and the ride destination.

With reference to the first possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the server further includes a second candidate car determining module configured to, when the ride request includes ride sharing information and a quantity of passengers, determine, from the self-driving cars within the management range, at least one second candidate car that has vacant seats whose quantity is not less than the quantity of passengers and that agrees with ride sharing, where the first candidate car determining module is configured to determine the at least one first candidate car from the at least one second candidate car according to the ride starting location and the ride destination.

With reference to the second aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the ride request delivery module is configured to deliver the ride request including the passenger information to the final candidate car, such that after arriving at the ride starting location, the final candidate car determines a sender of the ride request according to the passenger information, where the passenger information includes at least one of a passenger feature identifier or a passenger nearby typical road identifier.

With reference to the second aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the server further includes a security verification information sending module configured to send security verification information of the final candidate car to a sending terminal of the passenger request, such that when arriving at the ride starting location, the final candidate car verifies, according to the security verification information, security verification information provided by a sender of the passenger request.

With reference to the second aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the server further includes a planned route information update module configured to update planned route information of the final candidate car, and send updated planned route information to the final candidate car, such that the final candidate car determines a driving route according to the updated planned route information.

With reference to the second aspect, in a sixth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the server further includes a car identifier information delivery module configured to send identifier information of the final candidate car to a sending terminal of the passenger request, such that a sender of the passenger request determines the final candidate car according to the identifier information of the final candidate car.

With reference to the second aspect or the first to sixth possible implementation manners of the second aspect, in a seventh possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the server further includes a scheduling module configured to, when the final candidate car does not exist among the multiple self-driving cars within the management range, perform scheduling again on a newly received ride request and all unexecuted ride requests, and send a scheduling result to a corresponding self-driving car.

According to a third aspect, a self-driving car scheduling method is provided, the method including receiving a ride request delivered by a car scheduling server, where the ride request includes at least a ride starting location, a ride destination, an expected destination arrival time, and passenger information; determining whether a ride request conflicting with the ride request exists in a driving task list; if no ride request conflicting with the ride request exists in the driving task list, determining an execution order of the ride request according to the expected destination arrival time of the ride request, and adding the ride request to the driving task list according to the execution order of the ride request; and executing ride requests in sequence according to execution orders of the ride requests in the driving task list.

In a first possible implementation manner of the third aspect, after the adding the ride request to the driving task list according to the execution order of the ride request, the method further includes setting an execution status for the ride request, where the driving task list includes at least one ride request and an execution status corresponding to each ride request.

With reference to the third aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the method further includes during execution of any ride request, upon arrival at a ride starting location corresponding to the ride request, performing precise matching and positioning on a current location of a sender of the ride request according to a passenger nearby typical road identifier included in the ride request, such that after the sender of the ride request confirms, according to received car identifier information, a self-driving car that arrives at the ride starting location, the self-driving car drives away from the ride starting location.

With reference to the third aspect or the second possible implementation manner of the third aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the method further includes the following.

during execution of any ride request, upon arrival at a ride starting location corresponding to the ride request, confirming a sender of the ride request according to a passenger feature identifier included in the ride request, such that after the sender of the ride request confirms, according to received car identifier information, a self-driving car that arrives at the ride starting location, the self-driving car drives away from the ride starting location.

With reference to the third aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the method further includes, after it is detected that a passenger performs a destination change operation on a user interface, updating the driving task list according to a changed destination.

With reference to the third aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the method further includes, when it is detected that a traffic jam or a traffic accident occurs on a current driving route of the self-driving car, performing a ride request scheduling negotiation with the car scheduling server, to obtain a scheduling negotiation result; and updating the driving task list according to the scheduling negotiation result and transferring at least one subsequent ride request to another self-driving car.

With reference to the third aspect, in a sixth possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the method further includes, when it is detected that a traffic jam or a traffic accident occurs on a current driving route, performing a ride request scheduling negotiation with another self-driving car with which communication is established, to obtain a scheduling negotiation result; and updating the driving task list according to the scheduling negotiation result and transferring at least one subsequent ride request to the another self-driving car.

According to a fourth aspect, a self-driving car is provided, the car including a ride request receiving module configured to receive a ride request delivered by a car scheduling server, where the ride request includes at least a ride starting location, a ride destination, an expected destination arrival time, and passenger information; a ride request determining module configured to determine whether a ride request conflicting with the ride request exists in a driving task list; a ride request adding module configured to, when no ride request conflicting with the ride request exists in the driving task list, determine an execution order of the ride request according to the expected destination arrival time of the ride request, and add the ride request to the driving task list according to the execution order of the ride request; and an execution module configured to execute ride requests in sequence according to execution orders of the ride requests in the driving task list.

In a first possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the car further includes an execution status setting module configured to set an execution status for the ride request, where the driving task list includes at least one ride request and an execution status corresponding to each ride request.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the car further includes a matching confirmation module configured to, during execution of any ride request, upon arrival at a ride starting location corresponding to the ride request, perform precise matching and positioning on a current location of a sender of the ride request according to a passenger nearby typical road identifier included in the ride request, such that after the sender of the ride request confirms, according to received car identifier information, the self-driving car that arrives at the ride starting location, the self-driving car drives away from the ride starting location.

With reference to the fourth aspect or the second possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the matching confirmation module is further configured to, during execution of any ride request, upon arrival at a ride starting location corresponding to the ride request, confirm a sender of the ride request according to a passenger feature identifier included in the ride request, such that after the sender of the ride request confirms, according to received car identifier information, the self-driving car that arrives at the ride starting location, the self-driving car drives away from the ride starting location.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the car further includes a driving task list update module configured to, after it is detected that a passenger performs a destination change operation on a UI, update the driving task list according to a changed destination.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the car further includes a scheduling negotiation module configured to, when it is detected that a traffic jam or a traffic accident occurs on a current driving route of the self-driving car, perform a ride request scheduling negotiation with the car scheduling server, to obtain a scheduling negotiation result, where the driving task list update module is further configured to update the driving task list according to the scheduling negotiation result and transfer at least one subsequent ride request to another self-driving car.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in a sixth possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the scheduling negotiation module is further configured to, when it is detected that a traffic jam or a traffic accident occurs on a current driving route, perform a ride request scheduling negotiation with another self-driving car with which communication is established, to obtain a scheduling negotiation result; and the driving task list update module is further configured to update the driving task list according to the scheduling negotiation result and transfer at least one subsequent ride request to the another self-driving car.

A beneficial effect brought by the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present disclosure is that during self-driving car scheduling, car scheduling is performed according to at least a ride request, and current location information, current road status information, and planned route information of self-driving cars within a management range of a car scheduling server, and because reference factors for car scheduling are relatively varied, an obtained scheduling result is relatively precise, and scheduling precision is high.

