Google Takes Out Patent To Drive Customers to Stores

Tech giant Google may be a step closer to ruling the advertising world. The Mountain View, Calif.-based company has taken out a patent for a free taxi service that would be sponsored by ads, according to Ars Technica.

First reported by TechCrunch, the patent opens the door for an advertising scene where retailers can bring customers to their brick-and-mortar businesses for free, in the hopes that people will buy.

Intricate algorithms would calculate the process, determining a customer's location, transportation costs and likelihood to make a purchase. Customers could be offered free or discounted transportation with what is essentially a "free ride coupon," Ars Technica reported.

Users would be contacted either through their smartphones or from stationary kiosks, which would be located in various public areas.

Google could identify consumers through their smartphones, which would also give their locations. For the kiosks, users could identify themselves by logging into Google+ accounts.

Consumers can provide additional data to get recommendations from advertisers; for example, a couple may want dinner at a fancy restaurant, while an adult and child may have something different in mind.  

The system would work in a way similar to Google ads; marketers could bid against each other for space and customers.

Google could be implementing the system soon, but the company hasn't said anything definite yet. The patent was obtained by people in Google's self-driving car division, so it could be related to Google's autonomous electric vehicle future.

Cars that are at least partially self-driving should be on roads within the next few years, but industry officials have disagreed on the exact timing.

Google is working to make sure that self-driving cars can drive on their own using only on-board sensors.

"Google does not believe that we need to have connectivity in order to have full autonomy," Ron Medford, Google's director of safety for self-driving cars, said as quoted by the Los Angeles Times. "We can do it without it."