User preview of rideshare service vehicle surroundings

Abstract

A designated location preview method includes obtaining an image of a portion of an environment of a vehicle dispatched to a designated location in response to a service request from a user, wherein the obtaining is performed using at least one onboard sensor of the vehicle; and displaying the image of the environment portion on a user interface (UI) of a user device substantially in real-time.

1 - 20 . (canceled) 
     
     
         21 . A method comprising:
 using an onboard sensor of a vehicle dispatched by a fleet management system to a designated pickup location in response to a service request from a user to capture audio of a portion of an environment of the vehicle, under control of an onboard computer of the vehicle;   transmitting the audio captured by the onboard sensor from the onboard computer to the fleet management system;   transmitting the audio received by the fleet management system to a user device of the user;   playing the audio transmitted to the user device on a user interface (UI) of the user device substantially in real-time.   
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 21 , further comprising:
 prompting the user to provide an indication via the UI whether the designated pickup location is acceptable to the user based at least in part on the audio played on the user device.   
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 22 , further comprising:
 based on the indication provided by the user, identifying a safer location than the designated pickup location and providing a notification to the user of the identified safer location using the UI.   
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the playing the audio is performed when an estimated arrival time of the vehicle at the designated pickup location is less than a predetermined amount of time. 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 21 , further comprising, in response to input from the user using the UI, obtaining audio of a different portion of the environment of the vehicle and playing the audio of the different environment portion on the UI substantially in real-time. 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the at least one onboard sensor comprises a microphone on an exterior of the vehicle. 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the environment of the vehicle comprises the designated pickup location. 
     
     
         28 . One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media comprising instruction for execution which, when executed by a processor, result in operations comprising:
 using onboard sensors of a vehicle dispatched by a fleet management system to a designated pickup location in response to a service request from a user to capture audio and images of a portion of an environment of the vehicle, under control of an onboard computer of the vehicle;   transmitting the audio and images captured by the onboard sensors from the onboard computer to the fleet management system;   transmitting the audio and images received by the fleet management system to a user device of the user; and   presenting the audio and images transmitted to the user device on a user interface (UI) of the user device substantially in real-time.   
     
     
         29 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of  claim 28 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 prompting the user to provide an indication via the UI whether the designated pickup location is acceptable to the user based at least in part on the audio and images presented on the user device.   
     
     
         30 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of  claim 28 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 based on the indication provided by the user, identifying a safer location than the designated pickup location based on audio and images provided by onboard sensors of other vehicles connected to the fleet management system and providing a notification to the user of the identified safer location using the UI.   
     
     
         31 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of  claim 28 , wherein the presenting the audio and images is performed when an estimated arrival time of the vehicle at the designated pickup location is less than a predetermined amount of time. 
     
     
         32 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of  claim 28 , wherein at least one of the onboard sensors comprises a microphone on an exterior of the vehicle. 
     
     
         33 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of  claim 28 , wherein the environment of the vehicle comprises the designated pickup location. 
     
     
         34 . A method comprising:
 subsequent to receiving a service request from a user, wherein the service request identifies a pickup location, and dispatching a first vehicle by a fleet management system to the pickup location, dispatching by the fleet management system a second vehicle to the pickup location;   using an onboard sensor under control of an onboard computer of the second vehicle to capture at least one of audio and images of the pickup location prior to arrival at the pickup location by the first vehicle;   transmitting the at least one of audio and images captured by the onboard sensor from the onboard computer of the second vehicle to the fleet management system;   transmitting the at least one of audio and images received by the fleet management system to a user device of the user;   presenting the at least one of audio and images transmitted to the user device on a user interface (UI) of the user device substantially in real-time.   
     
     
         35 . The method of  claim 34 , further comprising:
 prompting the user to provide an indication via the UI whether a condition at the pickup location is acceptable to the user based at least in part on the at least one of audio and images presented on the user device.   
     
     
         36 . The method of  claim 35 , further comprising:
 based on the indication provided by the user, identifying a different location than the pickup location and providing a notification to the user of the identified different location using the UI.   
     
     
         37 . The method of  claim 35 , further comprising, in response to indication from the user using the UI, the fleet manager directing the second vehicle to obtain at least one of audio and images of a different portion of the pickup location and presenting the at least one of audio and images on the UI substantially in real-time. 
     
     
         38 . The method of  claim 34 , wherein the presenting the at least one of audio and images is performed prior to arrival of the first vehicle at the pickup location. 
     
     
         39 . The method of  claim 34 , wherein the presenting the at least one of audio and images is performed when an estimated arrival time of the first vehicle at the pickup location is less than a predetermined amount of time. 
     
     
         40 . The method of  claim 34 , wherein the onboard sensors comprise at least one of a microphone on an exterior of the second vehicle and a camera on the exterior of the second vehicle.