Interactive System for Real Time Dynamic Multi-hop Carpooling

An interactive system which automates real time dynamic multi-hop and multi-passenger routing through carpools and other transportation methods is described. Passengers and vehicles are matched without the requirements of sharing a similar destination or of passenger destination being positioned on or near driver route. Passengers can move towards destination one hop at a time and with minimal wait times. Route/hop planning is real time and dynamic, occurring at any time before or during travel along the route. The system attempts to maximize service quality through use of historical and/or current system state and external data to optimize for one or more route metrics including the cost, the number of hops, individual hop and total hop wait times, overall travel time, overall travel distance, personal preferences, and social networking. Potential passengers are socially matched to other overlapping passengers as well as drivers. Routes may include any number and kind of transportation vehicle. Overall transportation efficiency is improved.