On the mobile intelligence of autonomous vehicles

Despite impressive developments in autonomous driving technology, little work has been devoted to improving the mobility intelligence of self-driving vehicles. Intelligent transport mobility, where cars autonomously or collaborative take mobility decisions, will be of major importance for future transportation systems. Through a large-scale data analysis, we empirically evaluate the patterns of high performing taxi drivers and taxi stands. We also empirically show that advanced vehicle positioning can be beneficial for taxi operators by quantifying the impact of a taxi stand selection system that uses knowledge of passenger demand. Results show that a judicious selection of taxi stands allows decreasing the idle time and travelled distance, and improving the hourly revenue. The implementation of the system allows decreasing the operators' operational expenditures and improving profitability.