Vehicle sharing system and method with vehicle allocation based on travel information

摘要

A shared vehicle system includes a central facility 12, at least one vehicle distribution port facility 14 and a plurality or fleet of vehicles 16, each having a vehicle subsystem 18. In general, the central facility 12 and port facility 14 and the vehicle subsystems 18 communicate in a manner to allow a user to enter information at a port facility 14. That information, including an estimated distance and time duration of a trip, is then communicated to the central facility 12, where the information is processed to select a vehicle 16 from the fleet to allocate to the user 20 at the port facility 14. Selection of a vehicle 16 for allocation to a user 20 may be based on selecting an available or soon to be available vehicle according to various algorithms that take into account the vehicles state of charge. The central facility 12 also communicates with the port facility 14 and the vehicle subsystem 18 to notify the user 20 of the selected vehicle 16, to provide secure user access to the selected vehicle 16, to monitor the location and operating status of vehicles in the fleet, to monitor the state of charge of electric vehicles and to provide other functions. The vehicles communicate with the central station to notify the central station of the PIN number of the individual attempting to use the vehicle, and of vehicle parameters such as state of charge and location of the vehicle.