US Patent 11493348 Methods for executing autonomous rideshare requests

One variation of a method for executing autonomous rideshare requests includes: following arrival of an autonomous vehicle proximal a pickup location specified in a rideshare request submitted by a user, setting a user arrival timer for a first duration and a depart timer for a second duration exceeding the first duration; serving a state of the user arrival timer to a mobile computing device affiliated with the user; rendering a state of the depart timer on an external display arranged on the autonomous vehicle; in response to failure of the user to arrive at the autonomous vehicle prior to expiration of the user arrival timer, departing from the pickup location without the user; and, in response to the user arriving at the autonomous vehicle prior to expiration of the user arrival timer, departing from the pickup location with the user prior to expiration of the delay timer.