Accessible Rendezvous with Automation at the Curb

Problem Statement

Autonomous vehicles, both individual and shared shuttles, offer significant mobility benefits, especially for users who lack use of a personal vehicle. However, there are barriers towards emulating the key parts of human-driven shared ride services, such as efficient rendezvous and good curb location selection. Human drivers solve these problems with limited impact on operational cost and safety, but autonomous vehicles struggle with this poorly defined, yet critical step. We seek to address these barriers by characterizing effective and user-focused rendezvous strategies, thereby helping decisionmakers and service providers improve service, enhance safety, and lower operational cost.