Risk assessment system for assessing current driver behavior relative to past behavior and behaviors of other drivers

• US 10,300,922 B2
• Filed: 09/29/2017
• Issued: 05/28/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation, Denso International America Incorporated (DENSO Corporation)
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation, Denso International America Incorporated (DENSO Corporation)
• Inventors: Volos, Haris, Konishi, Kenji, Takenaka, Kazuhito, Shinohara, Yuki, Misawa, Hideaki
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham, Quang
• Application Number:
  US15/720,775
• Publication Number:
  US 20190100216A1
• Time in Patent Office: 606 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/30 Driving style
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/09 Driving style or behaviour
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/42 Determining position
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0635 Risk analysis of enterprise or organisation activities
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C

Abstract

A risk assessment system is provided and includes a behavior description generator, driving behavior comparator, and risk assessment modules and a transceiver. The behavior description generator module receives a set of driving features and topics corresponding to a driving behavior of a first driver in a location and under a set of driving conditions. The driving behavior comparator module: compares the set of driving features and the topics to other sets of features and topics, which correspond to driving behaviors of other drivers for the location and same or similar driving conditions as the set of driving conditions; and generates an anomaly score for the first driver based on results of the comparison. The risk assessment module calculates a risk assessment score for the driver based on the anomaly score, where the risk assessment score is indicative of a risk level of the first driver relative to the other drivers.

Claims

1. A risk assessment system comprising:

a behavior description generator module configured to at a risk assessment server receive a first set of driving features and topics corresponding to a driving behavior of a first driver of a first vehicle in a location and under a first set of driving conditions;

a driving behavior comparator module configured to (i) compare the first set of driving features and the topics to one or more other sets of features and topics, wherein the one or more other sets of features and topics correspond to driving behaviors of other drivers for the location and same or similar driving conditions as the first set of driving conditions, and (ii) generate an anomaly score for the first driver based on results of the comparison;

a risk assessment module configured to calculate a risk assessment score for the first driver based on the anomaly score, wherein the risk assessment score is indicative of a risk level of the first driver relative to the other drivers; and

a transceiver configured to transmit the risk assessment score from the risk assessment server to at least one of a vehicle control module of the first vehicle or a second server, wherein the risk assessment server and the second server are separate from the first vehicle.

2. The risk assessment system of claim 1, wherein the risk assessment module is configured to calculate the risk assessment score based on a plurality of anomaly scores of the first driver and anomaly scores of the other drivers.

3. The risk assessment system of claim 1, wherein:

the driving behavior comparator module is configured to generate a plurality of anomaly scores for the first driver; and

the risk assessment module is configured to (i) based on the plurality of anomaly scores, determine at least one of a probability distribution function or a cumulative distribution function, (ii) compare the at least one of the probability distribution function or the cumulative distribution function to at least one of an average probability distribution function or an average cumulative distribution function, and (iii) calculate the risk assessment score based on the comparison between the at least one of the probability distribution function or the cumulative distribution function for the first driver to the at least one of the average probability distribution function or the average cumulative distribution function.

4. The risk assessment system of claim 1, wherein:

the driving behavior comparator module is configured to compare the features and the topics corresponding to the driving behavior of the first driver to past features and topics corresponding to past driving behaviors of the first driver, and indicate whether the first driver is driving more dangerously than in the past; and

the risk assessment module is configured to calculate the risk assessment score based on the indication of whether the first driver is driving more dangerously than in the past.

5. The risk assessment system of claim 1, wherein the risk assessment module is configured to:

compare the anomaly score for the first driver for a first trip at the location to other anomaly scores for other trips at the location;

determine whether the anomaly score for the first driver is an outlier as compared to the other anomaly scores; and

based on whether the anomaly score for the first driver is an outlier, (i) determine a new common driving behavior for the first driver and the other drivers, or (ii) determine that the first driver is driving more dangerously than in the past.

6. The risk assessment system of claim 1, further comprising the second server, wherein the second server is configured to, based on the risk assessment score, adjust an insurance rate or a pay rate of the first driver.

7. The risk assessment system of claim 1, further comprising a latent Dirichlet allocation module configured to determine the topics based on probabilities of the features.

8. The risk assessment system of claim 1, wherein the driving behavior comparator module is configured to (i) determine topic proportions for scenes of one or more trips of the first driver, (ii) based on the topic proportions, determine whether the driving behavior of the first driver matches an average or trending driving behavior of the other drivers, and (iii) generate the anomaly score for the first driver based on whether the driving behavior of the first driver matches the average or trending driving behavior of the other drivers.

9. The risk assessment system of claim 1, wherein the driving behavior comparator module is configured to:

divide a trip of the first driver into a plurality of scenes;

describe the scenes via the topics of the first set of driving features and topics;

determine topic proportions for the plurality of scenes;

determine feature-proportion information for the plurality of scenes or trends in the driving behavior of the first driver and driving behaviors of the other drivers; and

generate at least the anomaly score for the first driver based on the topic proportions and feature-proportion information.

10. The risk assessment system of claim 1, further comprising a feature-portion information generator module configured to determine a driving behavior trend based on driving behavior descriptions, wherein:

the behavior description generator module is configured to (i) extract from feature-quantity distributions feature quantities specific to each of the topics using a likelihood ratio to generate the driving behavior descriptions; and

the driving behavior comparator module is configured to generate the anomaly score based on the driving behavior trend.

11. The risk assessment system of claim 10, wherein the behavior description generator module is configured to calculate the likelihood ratio based on:

feature quantities corresponding to a particular bin;

a predetermined one of the topics;

a multinomial distribution indicative of a base feature-quantity distribution of the predetermined one of the topics;

a conditional probability of the feature quantities given a multinomial distribution of the predetermined one of the topics; and

a sum of conditional probabilities obtained for the topics.

12. The risk assessment system of claim 1, wherein the one or more other sets of features and topics correspond to the driving behaviors of the other drivers of vehicles other than the first vehicle for the location and the same or similar driving conditions as the first set of driving conditions.

13. A risk assessment system comprising:

a driving behavior comparator module configured to (i) perform comparisons between corresponding sets of features and topics for driving behaviors of a plurality of drivers, wherein each of the comparisons is for a same driving location and same or similar driving conditions, and (ii) generate a plurality of anomaly scores for the plurality of drivers based on results of the comparisons;

an assessment module configured to, based on the plurality of anomaly scores, determine at least one of a common driving behavior or a trend in the driving behaviors of the plurality of drivers for the driving locations and corresponding ones of the driving conditions; and

a transceiver configured to transmit information regarding the common driving behavior or the trend in the driving behaviors of the plurality of drivers to a target vehicle for at least one of training a driver of the target vehicle or autonomous control of the target vehicle.

14. The risk assessment system of claim 13, wherein:

the assessment module is configured to, based on the plurality of anomaly scores, calculate a risk assessment score for the driver of the target vehicle, wherein the risk assessment score indicates whether the driver of the target vehicle is driving more dangerously than other ones of the plurality of drivers; and

the transceiver is configured to transmit the risk assessment score to the target vehicle.

15. The risk assessment system of claim 13, wherein:

the assessment module is configured to (i) determine at least one of an average probability distribution function or an average cumulative distribution function for trips of the plurality of drivers at the driving locations, and (ii) based on the at least one of the average probability distribution function or the average cumulative distribution function, calculate a risk assessment score for the driver of the target vehicle; and

the transceiver is configured to transmit the risk assessment score to the target vehicle.

16. The risk assessment system of claim 13, wherein the information regarding the at least one of the common driving behavior or the trend in the driving behaviors of the plurality of drivers includes at least one of (i) average features of the driving behaviors of the plurality of drivers in the driving locations, (ii) driving patterns for the plurality of drivers driving in the driving locations, or (iii) trends in the driving behaviors of the plurality of drivers driving in the driving locations.

17. The risk assessment system of claim 13, wherein:

the driving behavior comparator module is configured to obtain information indicative of a driving behavior of the driver of the target vehicle; and

the assessment module are configured to generate a risk assessment score for the driver of the target vehicle based on (i) the information indicative of the driving behavior of the driver of the target vehicle, (ii) the common driving behavior, and (iii) the trend in the driving behaviors of the plurality of drivers; and

the transceiver is configured to transmit the risk assessment score to the target vehicle.

18. A system for a first vehicle, the system comprising:

a display;

a plurality of sensors and a global positioning system configured to determine a first plurality of parameters and driving conditions for a location of the first vehicle, wherein the first plurality of parameters indicate at least a current or upcoming location of the first vehicle;

a transceiver configured to transmit from the first vehicle the first plurality of parameters and driving conditions to a risk assessment server, wherein the risk assessment server is separate from the vehicle;

wherein the transceiver is configured to, based on the first plurality of parameters and driving conditions, receive information regarding a common driving behavior for a plurality of drivers, wherein the plurality of drivers do not include a first driver of the first vehicle, and wherein the common driving behavior is indicative of an average driving behavior of the plurality of drivers for the current or upcoming location;

at least one vehicle control module configured to, based on the information regarding the common driving behavior, at least one of (i) train the first driver of the first vehicle, or (ii) autonomously control operation of the first vehicle; and

a feature reporting module configured to subsequent to the at least one of (i) training the first driver, or (ii) autonomously controlling operation of the first vehicle, determine features and feature distributions based on a second plurality of parameters obtained from the plurality of sensors,

wherein

the transceiver is configured to (i) transmit at least one of the features or the feature distributions to the risk assessment server, (ii) receive a risk assessment score from the risk assessment server for the first driver of the first vehicle based on the at least one of the features or the feature distributions, and (iii) receive at least one of an insurance rate or a pay rate,

the at least one of the insurance rate or the pay rate are generated based on the risk assessment score, and

the at least one vehicle control module is configured to display the risk assessment score and the at least one of the insurance rate or the pay rate on the display.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the at least one vehicle control module is configured to, based on the information regarding the common driving behavior, display indicators on the display to train the first driver of the first vehicle to have a driving behavior more like the average driving behavior of the plurality of drivers for the current or upcoming location.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the at least one vehicle control module is configured to, based on the information regarding the common driving behavior, autonomously control operation of the first vehicle to match the average driving behavior of the plurality of drivers for the current or upcoming location.

21. The system of claim 18, wherein the at least one vehicle control module displays the insurance rate or the pay rate on the display to indicate to the first driver a current driving behavior of the first driver as an indicator that the first driver is driving safe or as an incentive to driver safer.

22. The system of claim 18, wherein the at least one vehicle control module is configured to display the risk assessment score and the at least one of the insurance rate or the pay rate on the display while the first vehicle is being driving by the first driver.