Abstract: A vehicle routing system instructs a first vehicle having a human driver to execute a first route for delivering a first payload from a first pick-up location to a first destination. Instructions provided to the first vehicle include an instruction to drop-off the human driver at a driver transfer location along the first route and to continue along the first route without the human driver. The system further instructs a second vehicle that is operating autonomously to execute a second route that also includes the driver transfer location. The instructions to the second vehicle include an instruction to pick-up the human driver from the first vehicle at the driver transfer location and to continue along the second route with the human driver. The route segments may be labeled as suitable or unsuitable for autonomous driving to identify where to locate the driver transfer locations.

Abstract: The present invention contemplates a distributed automatic control system for preventing the vehicle bunching. Information of vehicle locations is automatically detected and used to determine the positions and velocities of vehicles along a route. Vehicles pass predetermined points, such as stations, along the route. Information about whether the vehicle skipped the station, arrived at the station, or departed from the station, is automatically calculated based on the position and velocity information. This information is distributed among the vehicles that belong to the same route. An in-vehicle controller dynamically calculates holding times at each station and displays the information to the driver so that buses do not get too close to one another, thereby preventing bunching while maintaining appropriate speeds of the vehicles.

Abstract: The present invention contemplates a distributed automatic control system for preventing the vehicle bunching. Information of vehicle locations is automatically detected and used to determine the positions and velocities of vehicles along a route. Vehicles pass predetermined points, such as stations, along the route. Information about whether the vehicle skipped the station, arrived at the station, or departed from the station, is automatically calculated based on the position and velocity information. This information is distributed among the vehicles that belong to the same route. An in-vehicle controller dynamically calculates holding times at each station and displays the information to the driver so that buses do not get too close to one another, thereby preventing bunching while maintaining appropriate speeds of the vehicles.