Managing self-driving behavior of autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle based upon actual driving behavior of driver

• US 10,077,056 B1
• Filed: 12/22/2015
• Issued: 09/18/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 04/24/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (State Farm)
• Original Assignee: State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (State Farm)
• Inventors: Fields, Brian M., Harr, Joseph P., Myers, Jeremy
• Primary Examiner(s): Smith, Isaac G
• Application Number:
  US14/978,701
• Time in Patent Office: 1,001 Days
• Field of Search: 701 23
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0075 Automatic parameter input, automatic initialising or calibrating means
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0088 Adaptive recalibration
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/10 Historical data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/45 External transmission of data to or from the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/09 Driving style or behaviour
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/0098 Details of control systems ensuring comfort, safety or stability not otherwise provided for
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0088 characterized by the autonomous decision making process, e.g. artificial intelligence, predefined behaviours using knowledge based models G06N5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance

Abstract

A system and method for measuring a driver'"'"'s actual driving behaviors (e.g., acceleration, deceleration) in a manual driving mode to determine their preferred driving style, and then causing an autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle to operate itself, within limits, in accordance with the drivers'"'"' driving style when operating in a self-driving mode, thereby providing a more familiar and comfortable driving experience for the driver. Data is collected on the actual driving behavior, any pre-existing data is accessed on the actual driving behavior, and the collected data and the pre-existing data are combined. A custom control is then created based upon the combined data, and the custom control is applied to manage the self-driving behavior of the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle in a self-driving mode. Additional data continues to be collected on the actual driving behavior, and the custom control is adjusted based upon the collected additional data.

Claims

1. A system for managing a self-driving behavior of a self-driving vehicle, the system comprising:

a communication element configured to receive and transmit signals via a network;

a memory element configured to store information; and

a processing element electronically coupled to the communication element and the memory element and configured to perform the following;

collecting telematics data regarding an actual driving behavior of a driver in a manual driving mode, the telematics data including acceleration, braking, and cornering data;

accessing pre-existing telematics data via the communication element regarding the actual driving behavior of the driver in the manual driving mode;

combining the collected telematics data and the accessed pre-existing telematics data;

creating a custom control based upon the combined collected and accessed pre-existing telematics data, the custom control including not exceeding a limit that is determined by collecting driving behavior data of a plurality of drivers, determining a safe operating range for driving based upon the collected driving behavior data, and basing the limit on the determined safe operating range;

applying the custom control to manage the self-driving behavior of the self-driving vehicle in a self-driving mode;

continuing to collect additional telematics data regarding the actual driving behavior of the driver in manual driving mode; and

adjusting the custom control based upon the collected additional telematics data.

2. The system as set forth in claim 1, wherein collecting telematics data involves using one or more sensors to measure the actual driving behavior.

3. The system as set forth in claim 2, wherein the collected telematics data includes a location and a time at which the measured actual driving behavior occurred.

4. The system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the custom control is a performance threshold for the self-driving driving behavior.

5. The system as set forth in claim 1, further including deleting anomalous data from the combined collected and accessed pre-existing telematics data.

6. The system as set forth in claim 1, further including:

collecting driving behavior data of a plurality of drivers driving through a particular area;

determining a safe operating range for driving through the particular area based upon the collected driving behavior data of the plurality of drivers; and

basing the limit on the determined safe operating range.

7. The system as set forth in claim 1, further including:

collecting driving behavior data of a plurality of drivers driving through a particular area at a particular time;

determining a safe operating range for driving through the particular area at the particular time based upon the collected driving behavior data of the plurality of drivers; and

basing the limit on the determined safe operating range.

8. The system as set forth in claim 1, wherein applying the custom control includes:

identifying a change in the actual driving behavior of the driver in the manual driving mode associated with a particular location; and

adjusting the custom control to reflect the change in the actual driving behavior of the driver when the self-driving vehicle is operating in the self-driving mode at the particular location.

9. The system as set forth in claim 1, wherein applying the custom control includes:

identifying a change in the actual driving behavior of the driver in the manual driving mode associated with a particular location and a particular time; and

adjusting the custom control to reflect the change in the actual driving behavior of the driver when the self-driving vehicle is operating in the self-driving mode at the particular location at the particular time.

10. The system as set forth in claim 1, further including allowing the driver to transfer the custom control from the self-driving vehicle to a second self-driving vehicle.

11. The system as set forth in claim 1, further including:

creating a plurality of custom controls for a plurality of different drivers of the self-driving vehicle, with each custom control being associated with each different driver;

identifying a particular driver using the self-driving vehicle from the plurality of different drivers; and

applying a particular custom control associated with the identified particular driver from the plurality of custom controls.

12. The system as set forth in claim 1, further including adjusting an insurance rate based upon the custom control for the self-driving vehicle.

13. The system as set forth in claim 12, further including:

allowing the driver to manually adjust the custom control;

basing the insurance rate on the manually adjusted custom control and an amount of time spent in the self-driving mode.

14. A system for managing a self-driving behavior of a self-driving vehicle, the system comprising:

a communication element configured to receive and transmit signals via a network;

a memory element configured to store information; and

a processing element electronically coupled to the communication element and the memory element and configured to perform the following;

collecting telematics data regarding an actual driving behavior of a driver in a manual driving mode, wherein collecting telematics data involves using one or more sensors to measure the actual driving behavior, and wherein the actual driving behavior includes acceleration, deceleration, lane-changing, speed of cornering, and following distance;

accessing pre-existing telematics data via the communication element regarding the actual driving behavior of the driver in the manual driving mode;

combining the collected telematics data and the accessed pre-existing telematics data, and storing the combined collected and accessed pre-existing telematics data in the memory element;

creating a custom control based upon the combined collected and accessed pre-existing telematics data, wherein the custom control is not allowed to exceed a limit that is determined by collecting driving behavior data of a plurality of drivers, determining a safe operating range for driving based upon the collected driving behavior data, and basing the limit on the determined safe operating range, and storing the custom control in the memory element;

applying the custom control to manage the self-driving behavior of the self-driving vehicle in a self-driving mode;

continuing to collect additional telematics data regarding the actual driving behavior of the driver in the manual driving mode, and storing the collected additional telematics data in the memory element; and

adjusting custom control based upon the collected additional telematics data.

15. A system for managing a self-driving behavior of a self-driving vehicle, the system comprising:

a communication element configured to receive and transmit signals via a network;

a memory element configured to store information; and

a processing element electronically coupled to the communication element and the memory element and configured to perform the following;

collecting telematics data regarding an actual driving behavior of a driver in a manual driving mode, wherein collecting telematics data involves using one or more sensors to measure the actual driving behavior, and wherein the actual driving behavior includes acceleration, deceleration, lane-changing, speed of cornering, and following distance;

accessing pre-existing telematics data via the communication element regarding the actual driving behavior of the driver in the manual driving mode;

combining the collected telematics data and the accessed pre-existing telematics data, and storing the combined collected and accessed pre-existing telematics data in the memory element;

creating a custom control based upon the combined collected and accessed pre-existing telematics data, wherein the custom control is not allowed to exceed a limit that is determined by collecting driving behavior data of a plurality of drivers, determining a safe operating range for driving based upon the collected driving behavior data, and basing the limit on the determined safe operating range, and storing the custom control in the memory element;

applying the custom control to manage the self-driving behavior of the self-driving vehicle in a self-driving mode; and

basing an insurance rate for the self-driving vehicle upon the custom control.