WO2013044319A1

WO2013044319A1 - Method and system for coordinating usage of vehicles in a transport network

Info

Publication number: WO2013044319A1
Application number: PCT/AU2012/001186
Authority: WO
Inventors: Farzad Safaei
Original assignee: Smart Services CRC Pty Ltd
Current assignee: Smart Services CRC Pty Ltd
Priority date: 2011-09-29
Filing date: 2012-09-28
Publication date: 2013-04-04
Anticipated expiration: 2014-03-29

Abstract

A system and method for transportation offer/request matching: The system receives transportation offers from a plurality of available drivers and requests for transportation from prospective passengers. The system generated proposed match is communicated to the prospective passenger for approval.

Description

METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR COORDINATING USAGE OF VEHICLES IN A

TRANSPORT NETWORK

Field of the Invention

The present invention generally relates to a system and a method for coordinating usage of vehicles in a transport network .

Background of the Invention

It is known that some cities face significant traffic congestion in a transport network because of the number of vehicles using the transport network. While public transport can reduce the network demand, large-scale use of public transport may be difficult to achieve. For example, in Australia the number of private vehicles has grown by an average of 4.2% per year during the period 1960-2010, which is much faster than the population growth of Australia, but the usage of public transport has increased only marginally in the same period.

A significant factor in favour of a person choosing to use a private vehicle is convenience, since the person is not required to comply with a timetable; there is no waiting time, no missed connection, and minimal to no network service disruptions. For this reason, it is difficult to encourage people to change transportation habits and use public transport instead of private vehicles.

Although an increasing number of vehicles are using transport networks, many drivers of vehicles have

unoccupied seats, which represents a significant available capacity in the network. However, better utilisation of this capacity by car pooling is relatively uncommon because it requires serendipity, negotiation and

coordination among people, and a degree of mutual trust.

Summary of the Invention

In accordance with a first aspect of the present

invention, there is provided a system for coordinating usage of a plurality of vehicles in a transport network, the system comprising:

a journey information receiver arranged to receive offered vehicle journey information indicative of a plurality of offered vehicle journeys, each offered vehicle journey being associated with one of the plurality of vehicles;

a transportation request receiver arranged to receive transportation request information indicative of a

plurality of requests for transportation by a respective plurality of prospective passengers; and

a proposal generator arranged to select at least one of the offered vehicle journeys that corresponds to a request for transportation by a prospective passenger, and to generate a journey proposal for the prospective

passenger to take a selected offered vehicle journey; and the system arranged to communicate the journey proposal to the prospective passenger and receive a response from the prospective passenger indicative of whether the prospective passenger agrees to take a

selected offered vehicle journey.

In an embodiment, the system comprises a vehicle mobile computing device arranged to facilitate generation of vehicle journey information indicative an offered vehicle journey by a person associated with the vehicle, and to communicate the vehicle journey information to the journey information receiver. The vehicle mobile computing device may be arranged to implement a software application that facilitates generation of an offered vehicle journey by a person associated with a vehicle. The offered vehicle journey information may include information indicative of a start location for the offered journey, an end location for the offered journey, and time information indicative of the date and time that the offered journey will occur.

In an embodiment, the vehicle mobile computing devices associated with the plurality of vehicles are arranged to define an ad hoc network usable to communicate traffic related information between the vehicle mobile computing devices .

In an embodiment, at least one of the vehicle mobile computing device is a smartphone, tablet computer or laptop computer.

In an embodiment, the system comprises a passenger mobile computing device arranged to facilitate generation of transportation request information indicative of a request for transportation by a prospective passenger, and to communicate the transportation request information to the transportation request receiver. The passenger mobile computing device may be arranged to implement a software application that facilitates generation of the

transportation by a prospective passenger. The passenger mobile computing device may be a smartphone, tablet computer or laptop computer. In an embodiment, the transportation request information includes information indicative of a start location for the transport request, an end location for the offered journey, and time information indicative of the date and time that the requests the journey will occur.

In an embodiment, the proposal generator is arranged to generate route information indicative of a route proposed for the vehicle to take during an offered journey, and to communicate the proposed route to the vehicle mobile computing device.

In an embodiment, the system includes a plurality of vehicle location devices, each vehicle location device associated with one of the vehicles and arranged to generate location information indicative of the location of the associated vehicle, and a road status server arranged to provide traffic information using the location information.

The traffic information may include information indicative of the locations of the vehicles associated with the system and the average speed of the vehicles.

In an embodiment, the proposal generator is arranged to use the traffic information to generate the route

information . In an embodiment, the proposal generator is arranged to select a plurality of offered vehicle journeys that correspond to a request for transportation by a

prospective passenger, and to generate a journey proposal for the prospective passenger to take one of the plurality of selected offered vehicle journeys.

In an embodiment, the proposal generator is arranged to select one offered vehicle journey that corresponds to a request for transportation by a prospective passenger, and to generate a journey proposal for the prospective passenger to take the selected offered vehicle journey. In an embodiment, the system is arranged to receive a filter parameter, and the proposal generator is arranged select at least one of the offered vehicle journeys and/or select a prospective passenger based on the filter parameter. The filter parameter may be indicative of a personal characteristic of a driver and/or a prospective passenger .

In an embodiment, the filter parameter is indicative of an occupation of the driver and/or the prospective passenger. For example, a driver may wish to meet Chief Executive Officers or marketing executives and specify that an offered vehicle journey only be proposed to these people.

Alternatively, the system may be arranged to provide a social or dating service and the filter parameter may include, but are not limited to, personal details such as sex, age, and physical characteristics such as eye colour and hair colour. In an embodiment, the system is arranged to provide an incentive for a person to change an offered vehicle journey, a request for transportation, or a route that a vehicle is proposed to take during an offered journey. The incentive may be a reduction in fee charged to the person .

In accordance with a first aspect of the present

invention, there is provided a method of coordinating usage of a plurality of vehicles in a transport network, the method comprising:

receiving offered vehicle journey information indicative of a plurality of offered vehicle journeys, each offered vehicle journey being associated with one of the plurality of vehicles;

receiving transportation request information

indicative of a plurality of requests for transportation by a respective plurality of prospective passengers;

selecting at least one of the offered vehicle journeys that corresponds to a request for transportation by a prospective passenger;

generating a journey proposal for the prospective passenger to take a selected offered vehicle journey;

communicating the journey proposal to the prospective passenger; and

receiving a response from the prospective passenger indicative of whether the prospective passenger agrees to take a selected offered vehicle journey.

Brief description of the Figures

The present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a system for

coordinating usage of vehicles in a transport network in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 2 is a diagrammatic representation of a mobile computing device associated with a prospective passenger seeking transport in the transport network, and usable by the prospective passenger to organise the transport; Figure 3 is a diagrammatic representation of a mobile computing device associated with a prospective driver of a vehicle willing to offer transport to a prospective passenger, and usable by the prospective driver to organise the transport offer;

Figure 4 is a flow diagram illustrating steps of a method of coordinating usage of vehicles in a transport network; and Figure 5 is a block diagram illustrating components of a route server of the system shown in Figure 1.

Detailed Description of Specific Embodiments In broad terms, the present system and method is arranged to encourage greater usage of capacity in a transport network that comprises a significant number of private vehicles. The system and method provides a transport coordination network, facilitates access to the network by prospective passengers desiring to travel from a selected first location to a selected second location, facilitates access to the network by prospective vehicle drivers willing to offer transport to prospective passengers, and enables prospective passengers to be linked with relevant prospective drivers. In this way, the system and method provides an automated car-pooling arrangement for

passengers and vehicle drivers.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 shows a system 10 for coordinating usage of vehicles 11 in a transport network of the type having a significant number of private vehicles, such as a road network in a city.

The vehicles 11 may include cars, vans, trucks or any other suitable vehicle capable of carrying passengers in addition to the driver. The system 10 includes a road status server 12 arranged to provide traffic information indicative of locations of vehicles associated with the system, the average speed of the vehicles, and predicted or known congestion levels on the transport network. The traffic information is used by a route server 14 to optimise suggested routing of vehicles and produce estimates of journey times.

The route server 14 is arranged to receive reguests from prospective passengers 13 desiring to undertake a journey between a selected first location and a selected second location, to receive offers from prospective vehicle drivers willing to provide transport to prospective passengers 13, and to link the journey reguests with the most appropriate transport offers.

The route server 14 is also arranged to communicate the most appropriate transport offers to the prospective passengers, and to communicate information indicative of a suitable prospective passenger 13 to the appropriate vehicle drivers .

In an embodiment, the route server 14 may be arranged to link the journey requests with the most appropriate transport offers using the information provided by the road status server 12.

In this example, the system 10 also includes a data storage device, in this example a database 15, arranged to store information indicative of requests from prospective passengers desiring to undertake a journey, offers from prospective vehicle drivers willing to provide transport to prospective passengers 13, and journey offers that have been accepted by passengers.

The system also includes a communications network 22 arranged to facilitate communications with the road status server 12 and the route server 14. In particular, the communications network enables the road status server 12 to obtain road traffic related data from the vehicles 11 associated with the transport network and/or from

elsewhere on-line, and enables the route server 14 to communicate with passenger mobile computing devices 24 associated with and carried by prospective passengers 11, and vehicle mobile computing devices 26 located in respective driver vehicles 11 or carried by vehicle drivers .

In the present example, the communications network 22 comprises the Internet and a mobile telephone

communications network that operate together to enable the computing devices 24, 26 to communicate irelessly with the road status server 12 and the route server 14.

In the present embodiment, the mobile computing devices 24, 26 may include smartphones, tablet computers, laptop computers, or any other network enabled computing device capable of communicating with the road status server 12 and the route server 14, and capable of interacting with passengers and vehicle drivers, in particular to receive relevant desired or offered journey information from respective passengers 13 and vehicle drivers. In one embodiment, the computing devices 24, 26 are arranged such that a software application arranged to carry out the desired functionality required for a passenger or a vehicle driver is installable on the computing device.

Each of the passenger and vehicle computing devices 24, 26 also includes, or is interfaced with, a GPS device arranged to provide positional information indicative of the location of the computing device 24, 26. Such positional information is communicated to the route server 14 from the passenger and vehicle computing devices 24, 26 so that the route server 14 is aware of the current location of the prospective passengers 13 desiring to travel and the vehicles 11 offering travel to passengers. The positional information derived from the respective GPS devices of the computing devices 24, 26 may be used by the road status server 12 to generate traffic information indicative of the traffic conditions on the transport network, the traffic information being used by the route server 14 when generating proposed travel routes. In the present embodiment, the wireless network that forms part of the communications network 22 is a 3G and/or 4G network, although it will be understood that any suitable wireless communications network is envisaged.

In the present embodiment, the communications network 22 provides a framework for establishing an ad hoc network between the vehicle computing devices 26, and in

particular between the vehicle computing devices 26 that are located in the same city. In this specification the vehicle ad hoc network is referred to as VANET.

In an embodiment, the VANET may use a protocol such as that disclosed by B . Karp and H. T. Rung, "GPSR: Greedy Perimeter Stateless Routing for wireless networks", Mobile Computing and Networking, pp. 243-254, 2000 (or its variants), which is based on geographical location of vehicles. An alternative protocol is disclosed in J. Zhao and G. Cao, "VADD: Vehicle-Assisted Date Delivery in vehicular ad hoc networks", INFOCOM proceedings, pp. 1-12, April 2006, which also uses position information and also the information about the street maps to deliver the communication packets to other vehicles. By utilising the characteristics of these VANET protocols and augmenting the information exchanged with vehicular speed and suitable prediction models, the VANET can generate an accurate map of all transport vehicles in the city and the level of traffic congestion (or achievable speeds) on the streets. This information may be regularly uploaded to the route status server 12, which will collate this information from all vehicles 11 and perform estimation about the delay incurred on each street segment. This information may be then passed to the route server to assist with the calculation of routes.

The route server 14 may use available shortest path protocols (such as Dijkstra's algorithm) or a k-shortest path protocols based on the information obtained to determine possible paths for vehicles and passengers. A route matching algorithm can then compare the passenger routes with the vehicle routes in order to select the most suitable vehicle (s) 11 for a given passenger 13.

The system also includes a payment unit 16 arranged to enable a passenger 13 to effect payment in respect of a journey, if applicable.

While the system 10 is described in relation to

prospective passengers and vehicle drivers, it will be understood that a person that is a passenger may on another occasion be a vehicle driver and a vehicle driver may on another occasion be a passenger.

In the present embodiment, prospective passengers 13 and vehicle drivers are required to register with the system 10 in order to use the system. Registration may occur on- line and may require investigations to establish whether the prospective registrant is suitable, for example whether the prospective registrant is of good character.

An example of operation of the system will now be

described in relation to Figures 1 to 3 and in relation to the flow diagram 60 shown in Figure 4 that illustrates a method of coordinating usage of vehicles 11 in a transport network . A prospective passenger 13 desiring to travel from a first location to a second location operates a passenger mobile computing device 24 in order to activate a software application associated with the system on the passenger computing device 24.

An example home screen 30 displayed to the prospective passenger on the passenger computing device is shown in Figure 2a. The home screen 30 includes user selectable options, in this example a private taxi option 32, a shared taxi option 34 and a transport commons option 36.

Selection of the transport commons option 36 causes a journey selection screen 40 shown in Figure 2b to be displayed. The journey selection screen 40 allows the prospective passenger 13 to select details of the proposed journey 62, such as the pick up location, the destination and the pick up time. The details entered or selected by the prospective passenger 13 are sent from the passenger computing device 24 to the route server 14 through the communications network 22, and stored in the database 15.

A vehicle driver that wishes to offer transport to a prospective passenger operates a vehicle mobile computing device 26 in order to activate a software application associated with the system on the vehicle computing device. In a typical embodiment, the vehicle computing device will be located in the driver's vehicle 11, although it will be understood that the vehicle computing device may be carried by the driver and therefore only located in the vehicle when the driver is in the vehicle 11. An example route selection screen 50 displayed to the driver on the vehicle computing device 26 is shown in Figure 3. The journey selection screen 50 allows the driver to select details of the driver's proposed journey 64, such as the location of the start of the driver's journey, the destination location at the end of the driver's journey, and/or an amount to be charged to a prospective passenger, if any. The journey details entered or selected by the driver are sent from the vehicle computing device 26 to the route server 14 through the communications network 22, and stored in the database 15.

After receiving the journey details from the vehicle computing device 26, the route server 14 determines 66 one or more suitable routes through the transport network between the start and end locations and communicates the route information indicative of one or more proposed routes 52 to the vehicle computing device 26 for display on the vehicle computing device. In this example, the route details are determined taking into account traffic information derived from the road status server and/or derived directly from other vehicle computing devices 26 that communicate with each other through the VANET, and taking into account prospective passengers 13 that have already submitted transport requests to the system.

As an alternative to sending the journey details to the route server 14 for determination of suitable routes for the driver, one or more proposed routes may be determined at the vehicle computing device 26 using the information entered by the driver and information as to traffic on the network obtained from other vehicle computing devices through the VANET.

Using the application on the vehicle computing device 26, the driver selects 68 one of the proposed routes 52 and the selected route 52 is communicated to the route server 14 and stored in the database 15.

One or more of the determined routes that have been selected by one or more respective drivers, and that fit criteria defined by a prospective passenger using a passenger mobile computing device 24, are then

communicated to the passenger computing device 24 associated with the prospective passenger 13 as proposed journey offers, and the proposed journey offers 42 are displayed 70 on the passenger computing device 24.

Using the passenger computing device 24, the prospective passenger is able to select 72 one of the displayed journey offers 42, and after a selection has been made a communication indicative of the selected journey offer 42 is sent to the route server 14 and stored in the database 15. In this way, selection of a journey offer is confirmed, and a communication is sent to the vehicle computing device associated with the confirmed journey offer 42 so as to inform the driver of the confirmed passenger and provide the driver with details of the pick up location, pick up time, destination of the passenger, and so on.

When the driver arrives 74 at the designated pick up location, the driver and passenger computing devices 24, 26 carry out a handshake process that serves to confirm that the driver has picked up the passenger and the passenger 13 is the correct person.

It will be understood that the system 10 may be arranged to interface with other public transport and taxi systems, for example using web services and such services may be selected for example using the private and shared taxi options 32, 34 on the home screen 30 of the passenger computing device 24.

The system 10 may provide incentives for drivers and passengers, for example managed by an incentive unit 20. For example, the cost of the journey may be tax

deductible, and/or the driver may receive a share of payments collected from the passengers. The system may reduce a service charge to the passenger if the passenger is willing to wait for a later vehicle or to share a vehicle with other passengers. These incentives may be provided with the aim of providing an efficient transport system, or some other objective.

In another example, a driver may be informed by the system that there are many empty vehicles on the road and to consider becoming a passenger.

In some embodiments, the drivers and passengers may also be able to exercise choice in the type of trip companion they will accept using social networking technology. For example, using a social networking unit 18 passengers and drivers may be able to provide each other with a rating on the system to help others with their choices. Figure 5 shows an example architecture of the route server 14. The route server 14 includes a journey information receiver 80 arranged to receive information indicative of a plurality of journeys offered by vehicle drivers, each of which is associated a vehicle.

The route server 14 also includes a transportation request receiver 82 arranged to receive information indicative of requests for transportation from a plurality of

prospective passengers. In this example, the requests for transportation are generated on the passenger computing devices 24.

The route server 14 also includes a proposal generator 84 arranged to generate at least one route proposal for at least one offered journey and for a prospective passenger based on journey information for the plurality of journey offers and the journey proposed by the prospective passenger .

The route server 14 also includes a proposal sender 86. The proposal sender is arranged to send the route proposal information to the passenger computing device 24 for display on the passenger computing device 24.

The route server 14 also includes an acceptance unit 88 arranged to receive a route acceptance communication indicative of acceptance of one of the routes proposed to a prospective passenger from a passenger computing device 24.

The route server 14 also includes a confirmation unit 90 arranged to receive a confirmation indicative of an accepted one of the routes from a vehicle computing device 26.

The route server 14 also includes an incentives unit 92. The incentives unit 92 calculates various incentives to meet an objective such as providing efficient

transportation. The incentives unit is arranged to propose an incentive to change at least one of plurality requests and/or at least one of the plurality of routes.

It will be understood that the system including the road status sever 12 and the route server 14 including the various components 80 to 92, may comprise software units on a single hardware unit, software units over multiple hardware units, a combination of customised hardware and software units, or purely hardware units.

The system 10 may be an embedded system. The server may comprise a mainframe, a personal computer, or a cloud based system. The route server 14 or the system 10 more generally may have an enterprise application clustering architecture. A cluster is a logical group of servers running web applications simultaneously and appearing as a single server to the world. Servers can be dynamically added or removed from the cluster depending on the load or customer base. Load balancing may be used to distribute customer requests among different services in a cluster. A load balancer may distribute client requests among multiple servers. Load balances come in several varieties such as hardware based, software based, or a combination of the two. The load balancer may be combined in a single piece of hardware including a firewall. The clustering may be single tier clustering, two tier clustering or any other form of clustering.

Now that embodiments of a system and method have been described, it will be appreciated that some embodiments have some of the following advantages:

^■ trips may be coordinated between passengers and drivers ;

^■ safety may be improved;

■ awkward social interactions may be avoided;

^■ desired social interactions may be enabled.

It will be appreciated that numerous variations and/or modifications may be made to the systems and methods as shown in the specific embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope as broadly described. The present embodiments are, therefore, to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive. In the claims which follow and in the preceding

description, except where the context requires otherwise due to express language or necessary implication, the word "comprise" or variations such as "comprises" or

"comprising" is used in an inclusive sense, i.e. to specify the presence of the stated features but not to preclude the presence or addition of further features in various embodiments of the invention.

It is to be understood that, if any prior art is referred to herein, such reference does not constitute an admission that the prior art forms a part of the common general knowledge in the art in any country.

Claims

CLAIMS :

1. A system for coordinating usage of a plurality of vehicles in a transport network, the system comprising: a journey information receiver arranged to receive offered vehicle journey information indicative of a plurality of offered vehicle journeys, each offered vehicle journey being associated with one of the plurality of vehicles;

selected offered vehicle journey.

2. A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the system comprises a vehicle mobile computing device arranged to facilitate generation of vehicle journey information indicative of an offered vehicle journey by a person associated with the vehicle, and to communicate the vehicle journey information to the journey information receiver .

3. A system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the vehicle mobile computing device is arranged to implement a

software application that facilitates generation of an offered vehicle journey by a person associated with a vehicle.

4. A system as claimed in claim 3, wherein the vehicle journey information includes information indicative of a start location for the offered journey, an end location for the offered journey, and time information indicative of the date and time that the offered journey will occur.

5. A system as claimed in any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein the vehicle mobile computing devices associated with the plurality of vehicles are arranged to define an ad hoc network usable to communicate traffic related information between the vehicle mobile computing devices.

6. A system as claimed in any one of claims 2 to 5, wherein at least one of the vehicle mobile computing device is a smartphone, tablet computer or laptop

computer .

7. A system as claimed in any one of claims 2 to 6, wherein the system comprises a passenger mobile computing device arranged to facilitate generation of transportation request information indicative of a request for

transportation by a prospective passenger, and to

communicate the transportation request information to the transportation request receiver.

8. A system as claimed in claim 7, wherein the passenger mobile computing device is arranged to implement a software application that facilitates generation of the transportation by a prospective passenger.

9. A system as claimed in claim 7 or claim 8, wherein the passenger mobile computing device is a smartphone, tablet computer or laptop computer.

10. A system as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the transportation request information includes information indicative of a start location for the transport request, an end location for the offered journey, and time information indicative of the date and time that the requests the journey will occur.

11. A system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the proposal generator is arranged to generate route information indicative of a route proposed for the vehicle to take during an offered journey, and to communicate the proposed route to the vehicle mobile computing device.

12. A system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the system includes a plurality of vehicle location devices, each vehicle location device associated with one of the vehicles and arranged to generate location information indicative of the location of the associated vehicle, and a road status server arranged to provide traffic information using the location information.

13. A system as claimed in claim 12, wherein the traffic information includes information indicative of the locations of the vehicles associated with the system and the average speed of the vehicles .

14. A system as claimed in claim 12 or claim 13 when dependent on claim 11, wherein the proposal generator is arranged to use the traffic information to generate the route information.

15. A system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the proposal generator is arranged to select a plurality of offered vehicle journeys that correspond to a reguest for transportation by a

16. A system as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 13, wherein the proposal generator is arranged to select one offered vehicle journey that corresponds to a request for transportation by a prospective passenger, and to generate a journey proposal for the prospective passenger to take the selected offered vehicle journey.

17. A system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the system is arranged to receive a filter parameter, and the proposal generator is arranged select at least one of the offered vehicle journeys and/or select a prospective passenger based on the filter parameter.

18. A system as claimed in claim 17, wherein the filter parameter is indicative of a personal characteristic of a driver and/or a prospective passenger.

19. A system as claimed in claim 18, wherein the filter parameter is indicative of an occupation of the driver and/or the prospective passenger.

20. A system as claimed in claim 18, wherein the filter parameter is indicative of the sex, age and/or physical characteristics of the driver and/or the prospective passenger .

21. A system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the system is arranged to provide an incentive for a person to change an offered vehicle journey, a request for transportation, or a route that a vehicle is proposed to take during an offered journey.

22. A system as claimed in claim 21, wherein the incentive is a reduction in fee charged to the person.

23. A method of coordinating usage of a plurality of vehicles in a transport network, the method comprising: receiving offered vehicle journey information indicative of a plurality of offered vehicle journeys, each offered vehicle journey being associated with one of the plurality of vehicles;

receiving transportation request information indicative of a plurality of requests for transportation by a respective plurality of prospective passengers;

generating a journey proposal for the prospective passenger to take a selected offered vehicle journey; communicating the journey proposal to the prospective passenger; and

24. A method as claimed in claim 23, comprising providing a plurality of vehicle mobile computing devices, and facilitating generation of vehicle journey information indicative of an offered vehicle journey by a person associated with the vehicle using the vehicle mobile computing devices.

25. A method as claimed in claim 24, wherein the vehicle journey information includes information indicative of a start location for the offered journey, an end location for the offered journey, and time information indicative of the date and time that the offered journey will occur.

26. A method as claimed in claim 24 or claim 25,

comprising arranging the vehicle mobile computing devices associated with the plurality of vehicles to define an ad hoc network usable to communicate traffic related

information between the vehicle mobile computing devices.

27. A method as claimed in any one of claims 24 to 26, comprising providing a passenger mobile computing device arranged to facilitate generation of transportation request information indicative of a request for

transportation by a prospective passenger, and

communicating the transportation request information to the transportation request receiver.

28. A method as claimed in any one of claims 24 to 27, wherein the transportation request information includes information indicative of a start location for the transport request, an end location for the offered journey, and time information indicative of the date and time that the requests the journey will occur.

29. A method as claimed in any one of claims 24 to 28, comprising generating route information indicative of a route proposed for the vehicle to take during an offered journey, and communicating the proposed route to a vehicle mobile computing device .

30. A method as claimed in any one of claims 24 to 29, comprising providing a plurality of vehicle location devices, each vehicle location device associated with one of the vehicles and arranged to generate location

information indicative of the location of the associated vehicle, providing a road status server, and arranging the road status server to provide traffic information using the location information.

31. A method as claimed in claim 30, wherein the traffic information includes information indicative of the locations of the vehicles associated with the system and the average speed of the vehicles .

32. A method as claimed in claim 30 or claim 31 when dependent on claim 29, comprising using the traffic information to generate the route information.

33. A method as claimed in any one of claims 23 to 32, comprising selecting a plurality of offered vehicle journeys that correspond to a request for transportation by a prospective passenger, and generating a journey proposal for the prospective passenger to take one of the plurality of selected offered vehicle journeys.

34. A method as claimed in any one of claims 23 to 32, comprising selecting one offered vehicle journey that corresponds to a request for transportation by a

prospective passenger, and generating a journey proposal for the prospective passenger to take the selected offered vehicle journey.

35. A method as claimed in any one of claims 23 to 34, comprising receiving a filter parameter, and selecting at least one of the offered vehicle journeys and/or selecting a prospective passenger based on the filter parameter.

36. A method as claimed in claim 35, wherein the filter parameter is indicative of a personal characteristic of a driver and/or a prospective passenger.

37. A method as claimed in claim 36, wherein the filter parameter is indicative of an occupation of the driver and/or the prospective passenger.

38. A method as claimed in claim 37, wherein the filter parameter is indicative of the sex, age and/or physical characteristics of the driver and/or the prospective passenger .

39. A method as claimed in any one of claims 23 to 38, comprising providing an incentive for a person to change an offered vehicle journey, a request for transportation, or a route that a vehicle is proposed to take during offered journey.

40. A method as claimed in claim 39, wherein the incentive is a reduction in fee charged to the person