Systems and methods for determining fuel information of a vehicle

• US 10,140,785 B1
• Filed: 09/02/2015
• Issued: 11/27/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/02/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: MetroMile, Inc. (Lemonade Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: MetroMile, Inc. (Lemonade Incorporated)
• Inventors: Cox, Evan Gabriel Turitz, Waliji, Muhammad, Preston, Jr., Dan Richard, Mercado, Jose, Goodman, Daniel Eric
• Primary Examiner(s): Weber, Tamara L
• Application Number:
  US14/843,815
• Time in Patent Office: 1,182 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/26 specially adapted for navigation in a road network
• CPC Class Codes: G01F 23/80 Arrangements for signal processing
• CPC Class Codes: G01F 9/02 wherein the other variable is the speed of a vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G01F 9/023 with electric, electro-mechanic or electronic means
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/02 Registering or indicating driving, working, idle, or waiting time only apparatus forming part of taximeters G07B13/00

Abstract

The present disclosure provides systems and methods for determining or providing fuel information of a vehicle, such as predicting fuel intake and usage for the vehicle. A method for predicting a fueling event of a vehicle comprises using a mobile computing device carried in the vehicle to track the vehicle along a route. Multiple stop events may be detected when tracking the vehicle, and for each of the multiple stop events, each of duration and a geographic location may be determined. Next, a given stop event of the multiple stop events may be determined to be a fueling event based at least in part on a duration and geographic location of the given stop event.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for improving an automatic determination of a fueling event of a vehicle using a mobile computing device onboard the vehicle, comprising:

(a) tracking the vehicle along a route using sensors on the mobile computing device;

(b) detecting multiple stop events when tracking the vehicle using the sensors on the mobile computing device, wherein the sensors include an accelerometer and a Global Positioning System;

(c) for each of the multiple stop events, automatically determining each of a duration and a geographic location based on sensor information generated from the sensors on the mobile computing device;

(d) using one or more programmed computer processors to execute a machine learning algorithm to automatically determine that a given stop event of the multiple stop events is a fueling event based at least in part on a duration and geographic location of the given stop event;

(e) providing information on the fueling event to a user on a graphical user interface (GUI) of the mobile computing device; and

(f) in response to providing the information on the GUI, receiving through the GUI feedback from the user, wherein the machine learning algorithm uses the feedback from the user to improve the automatic determination of the fueling event.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

tracking the vehicle after the given stop event;

determining that the fueling event filled a gas tank of the vehicle; and

predicting a fuel level of the vehicle after the given stop event.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

determining sensor information from the mobile computing device; and

using the one or more programmed computer processors to relate the sensor information to one or more roadway characterizations along the route,

wherein predicting the fuel level is based at least in part on the one or more roadway characterizations.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein determining the sensor information includes detecting elevation changes of the vehicle along the route.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein detecting elevation changes of the vehicle is based on accelerometer data and Global Positioning System data from the mobile computing device that is carried in the vehicle.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining at least one of a velocity and acceleration profile of the vehicle; and

determining a fuel consumption rate based on at least one of the velocity and acceleration profile.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising determining a road condition for the vehicle, and determining the fuel consumption rate based on the road condition.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the road condition corresponds to an elevation change along the route of the vehicle and a quality of a road used by the vehicle along the route.

9. The method of claim 6, further comprising determining a fuel level of the vehicle based on a geographic location of the given stop event and the fuel consumption rate.

10. The method of claim 6, further comprising determining that a fuel level of the vehicle is below a low fuel level threshold based on the fuel consumption rate and the geographic location of the fuel stop.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising performing one or more of (i) generating an alert based on the fuel level of the vehicle being below the low fuel level threshold, (ii) locating an optimal fuel station based on proximity to a current or future geographic location of the vehicle before the vehicle is out of fuel, and (iii) determining a geographic location on a future route or route segment in which the vehicle is expected to be out of fuel.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein tracking the vehicle includes obtaining position information from the mobile computing device.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein (a) through (d) are performed using global positioning system information generated from the mobile computing device.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein (d) includes determining that a given stop of the multiple stop events was a fuel stop based at least in part on the duration of the given stop being greater than a first threshold and less than a second threshold.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein (b)-(d) are performed by the mobile computing device.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the fueling event is determined based on fuel readings obtained by the in-vehicle sensors and position information obtained by the Global Positioning System.

17. A computer-implemented method for improving an automatic calculation of a fuel level of a vehicle using a mobile computing device comprising sensors onboard the vehicle, comprising:

recording, in computer memory, sensor device data from the sensors on the mobile computing device along a route traveled by the vehicle, the sensors including an accelerometer and a Global Positioning System, wherein the mobile computing device is in the vehicle, and wherein the sensor device data includes position information and accelerometer data;

determining, from the sensor device data, one or more roadway conditions and/or events along the route;

using one or more programmed computer processors to execute a machine learning algorithm to automatically calculate the fuel level of the vehicle at a given instance by (i) determining, from the position information, a distance traveled by the vehicle since a most recent fuel stop, (ii) calculating a fuel consumption rate based on (A) a fuel consumption rate for a vehicle type of the vehicle, and (B) the one or more roadway conditions and/or events;

providing the fuel level of the vehicle to a user on a graphical user interface (GUI) of the mobile computing device; and

in response to providing the fuel level on the GUI, receiving through the GUI feedback from the user, wherein the machine learning algorithm uses the feedback from the user to improve the automatic calculation of the fuel level of the vehicle.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising predicting the most recent fuel stop using the sensor device data.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein determining the one or more roadway conditions and/or events includes using the position information to detect changes in elevation of the vehicle along the route when the sensor device data is recorded.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein determining the one or more roadway conditions and/or events includes using the accelerometer information to detect changes in elevation of the vehicle along the route when the sensor device data is recorded.

21. The method of claim 17, further comprising determining, from the sensor device data, at least one of a velocity and acceleration of the vehicle at multiple instances along the route.

22. The method of claim 17, wherein the fuel level information includes fuel level alerts.

23. The method of claim 17, further comprising using the one or more programmed computer processors to execute the machine learning algorithm to use the feedback to improve the automatic calculation of the fuel level.

24. A computer-implemented method for improving an automatic prediction of a fuel level of a vehicle using a mobile computing device comprising sensors onboard the vehicle, comprising:

recording, in computer memory, sensor device data from the sensors on the mobile computing device along a route traveled by the vehicle, the sensors including an accelerometer and a Global Positioning System, wherein the mobile computer device is in the vehicle, and wherein the sensor device data includes position information and accelerometer data;

determining, from the sensor device data, at least one of a velocity and acceleration of the vehicle at multiple instances along the route;

determining, from the sensor device data, one or more roadway conditions and/or events along the route;

using one or more programmed computer processors to execute a machine learning algorithm to automatically calculate a fuel consumption rate of the vehicle based at least in part on (A) an approximate fuel consumption rate for a vehicle type of the vehicle, (B) the at least one of velocity and acceleration of the vehicle at the multiple instances along the route, and (C) the one or more roadway conditions and/or events, which fuel consumption rate is used to automatically predict a fuel level of the vehicle;

upon determining that the fuel level of the vehicle is at or below a predetermined fuel threshold, selecting a fuel station for the vehicle based at least in part on a refueling cost;

providing information on the fuel station and the fuel level to a user on a graphical user interface (GUI) of the mobile computing device; and

in response to providing the fuel level on the GUI, receiving through the GUI feedback from the user, wherein the machine learning algorithm uses the feedback from the user to improve the automatic prediction of the fuel level of the vehicle.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the refueling cost is determined by the mobile computing device.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein selecting the fuel station includes predicting at least a portion of one or more routes of the vehicle on either a current trip that includes the route or next trip, and selecting the fuel station based on the predicted one or more routes.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the predicting at least the portion of one or more routes includes using historical information.

28. The method of claim 24, further comprising using the one or more programmed computer processors to execute the machine learning algorithm to use the feedback to improve the automatic prediction of the fuel level.