Controlling autonomous vehicles to provide automated emergency response functions

• US 10,410,526 B2
• Filed: 01/17/2018
• Issued: 09/10/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Allstate Insurance Company (Allstate Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Allstate Insurance Company (Allstate Corporation)
• Inventors: Kumar, Surender, Briggs, Ryan M., Slusar, Mark V., Gibson, Timothy W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Tyler J
• Application Number:
  US15/873,316
• Publication Number:
  US 20180144639A1
• Time in Patent Office: 601 Days
• 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: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/02 Registering or indicating driving, working, idle, or waiting time only apparatus forming part of taximeters G07B13/00
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0808 Diagnosing performance data testing of vehicles G01M17/00; testing of electrical installation on vehicles G01R31/005
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096725 where the received information generates an automatic action on the vehicle control
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/202 Dispatching vehicles on the basis of a location, e.g. taxi dispatching
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/205 Indicating the location of the monitored vehicles as destination, e.g. accidents, stolen, rental

Abstract

Aspects of the disclosure relate to controlling autonomous vehicles to provide automated emergency response functions. A computing platform may receive vehicle data associated with a vehicle from an on-board vehicle monitoring system associated with the vehicle. Subsequently, the computing platform may detect an occurrence of an emergency at a location. Thereafter, the computing platform may select an autonomous vehicle to respond to the emergency at the location based on autonomous vehicle state information. Then, the computing platform may generate one or more dispatch commands directing the autonomous vehicle to move to the location and execute one or more emergency response functions. Subsequently, the computing platform may send, to an on-board autonomous vehicle control system associated with the autonomous vehicle, the one or more dispatch commands directing the autonomous vehicle to move to the location and execute the one or more emergency response functions.

Claims

1. A computing platform comprising:

at least one processor;

a communication interface communicatively coupled to the at least one processor; and

memory storing computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the computing platform to;

receive, via the communication interface, vehicle data associated with a first vehicle from a first on-board vehicle monitoring system associated with the first vehicle;

detect an occurrence of an emergency at a first location based on the vehicle data associated with the first vehicle received from the first on-board vehicle monitoring system associated with the first vehicle;

select a first autonomous vehicle to respond to the emergency at the first location based on autonomous vehicle state information;

generate one or more dispatch commands directing the first autonomous vehicle to move to the first location and execute one or more emergency response functions; and

send, via the communication interface, to a first on-board autonomous vehicle control system associated with the first autonomous vehicle, the one or more dispatch commands directing the first autonomous vehicle to move to the first location and execute the one or more emergency response functions,

wherein sending the one or more dispatch commands to the first on-board autonomous vehicle control system associated with the first autonomous vehicle causes the first on-board autonomous vehicle control system associated with the first autonomous vehicle to drive the first autonomous vehicle to the first location.

2. The computing platform of claim 1, wherein the vehicle data associated with the first vehicle received from the first on-board vehicle monitoring system associated with the first vehicle comprises location data associated with the first vehicle, telematics data associated with the first vehicle, and sensor data associated with the first vehicle.

3. The computing platform of claim 1, wherein the emergency at the first location is a natural disaster.

4. The computing platform of claim 1, wherein the emergency at the first location is an automobile accident involving the first vehicle.

5. The computing platform of claim 1, wherein detecting the occurrence of the emergency at the first location comprises detecting the occurrence of the emergency at the first location based on vehicle data associated with the first autonomous vehicle received from the first on-board autonomous vehicle control system associated with the first autonomous vehicle.

6. The computing platform of claim 1, wherein detecting the occurrence of the emergency at the first location comprises detecting the occurrence of the emergency at the first location based on a disaster alert received from an emergency alert computer system.

7. The computing platform of claim 1, wherein selecting the first autonomous vehicle to respond to the emergency at the first location based on the autonomous vehicle state information comprises determining, based on the autonomous vehicle state information, that the first autonomous vehicle is the closest available autonomous vehicle to the first location of a plurality of available autonomous vehicles within a predetermined distance of the first location.

8. The computing platform of claim 1, wherein generating the one or more dispatch commands directing the first autonomous vehicle to move to the first location and execute the one or more emergency response functions comprises generating at least one dispatch command directing the first autonomous vehicle to deliver emergency supplies to the first location, provide medical functions at the first location, capture one or more pictures at the first location, collect claims processing information at the first location, or provide emergency transport for one or more injured persons at the first location.

9. The computing platform of claim 1, wherein generating the one or more dispatch commands directing the first autonomous vehicle to move to the first location and execute the one or more emergency response functions comprises generating at least one dispatch command directing the first autonomous vehicle to a supplies loading unit.

10. The computing platform of claim 1, wherein the memory stores additional computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the computing platform to:

receive, via the communication interface, from the first on-board vehicle monitoring system associated with the first vehicle, vehicle monitoring registration information associated with the first vehicle; and

store the vehicle monitoring registration information associated with the first vehicle received from the first on-board vehicle monitoring system associated with the first vehicle in a vehicle management database maintained by the computing platform.

11. The computing platform of claim 1, wherein the memory stores additional computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the computing platform to:

receive, via the communication interface, from the first on-board autonomous vehicle control system associated with the first autonomous vehicle, autonomous vehicle registration information associated with the first autonomous vehicle; and

store the autonomous vehicle registration information associated with the first autonomous vehicle received from the first on-board autonomous vehicle control system associated with the first autonomous vehicle in a vehicle management database maintained by the computing platform.

12. The computing platform of claim 11, wherein the memory stores additional computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the computing platform to:

receive, via the communication interface, from a second on-board autonomous vehicle control system associated with a second autonomous vehicle, autonomous vehicle registration information associated with the second autonomous vehicle; and

store the autonomous vehicle registration information associated with the second autonomous vehicle received from the second on-board autonomous vehicle control system associated with the second autonomous vehicle in the vehicle management database maintained by the computing platform.

13. The computing platform of claim 1, wherein the memory stores additional computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the computing platform to:

generate, for a plurality of autonomous vehicles, a plurality of polling requests requesting updated state information from a plurality of on-board autonomous vehicle control systems associated with the plurality of autonomous vehicles;

send, via the communication interface, to the plurality of on-board autonomous vehicle control systems associated with the plurality of autonomous vehicles, the plurality of polling requests requesting the updated state information from the plurality of on-board autonomous vehicle control systems associated with the plurality of autonomous vehicles;

receive, via the communication interface, from the plurality of on-board autonomous vehicle control systems associated with the plurality of autonomous vehicles, a plurality of polling responses; and

generate the autonomous vehicle state information based on the plurality of polling responses received from the plurality of on-board autonomous vehicle control systems associated with the plurality of autonomous vehicles.

14. The computing platform of claim 1, wherein the memory stores additional computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the computing platform to:

generate environment state information based on environment data received from an environmental data computer system,

wherein generating the one or more dispatch commands directing the first autonomous vehicle to move to the first location and execute the one or more emergency response functions comprises generating at least one dispatch command based on the environment state information.

15. The computing platform of claim 1, wherein the memory stores additional computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the computing platform to:

select a second autonomous vehicle to respond to the emergency at the first location based on the autonomous vehicle state information;

generate one or more dispatch commands directing the second autonomous vehicle to move to the first location and execute one or more emergency response functions; and

send, via the communication interface, to a second on-board autonomous vehicle control system associated with the second autonomous vehicle, the one or more dispatch commands directing the second autonomous vehicle to move to the first location and execute the one or more emergency response functions.

16. The computing platform of claim 1, wherein the memory stores additional computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the computing platform to:

receive, via the communication interface, from the first on-board autonomous vehicle control system associated with the first autonomous vehicle, incident data collected by the first on-board autonomous vehicle control system associated with the first autonomous vehicle at the first location.

17. The computing platform of claim 16, wherein the incident data collected by the first on-board autonomous vehicle control system associated with the first autonomous vehicle at the first location comprises information identifying one or more supplies used at the first location in responding to the emergency at the first location, information identifying a nature of the emergency at the first location, or claims processing information received by the first on-board autonomous vehicle control system associated with the first autonomous vehicle at the first location.

18. The computing platform of claim 16, wherein the memory stores additional computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the computing platform to:

generate an incident report based on the incident data received from the first on-board autonomous vehicle control system associated with the first autonomous vehicle; and

send, via the communication interface, to an emergency services computer system, the incident report generated based on the incident data received from the first on-board autonomous vehicle control system associated with the first autonomous vehicle, wherein sending the incident report generated based on the incident data received from the first on-board autonomous vehicle control system associated with the first autonomous vehicle to the emergency services computer system causes the emergency services computer system to display the incident report generated based on the incident data received from the first on-board autonomous vehicle control system associated with the first autonomous vehicle.

19. A method comprising:

at a computing platform comprising at least one processor, memory, and a communication interface;

receiving, by the at least one processor, via the communication interface, vehicle data associated with a first vehicle from a first on-board vehicle monitoring system associated with the first vehicle;

detecting, by the at least one processor, an occurrence of an emergency at a first location based on the vehicle data associated with the first vehicle received from the first on-board vehicle monitoring system associated with the first vehicle;

selecting, by the at least one processor, a first autonomous vehicle to respond to the emergency at the first location based on autonomous vehicle state information;

generating, by the at least one processor, one or more dispatch commands directing the first autonomous vehicle to move to the first location and execute one or more emergency response functions; and

sending, by the at least one processor, via the communication interface, to a first on-board autonomous vehicle control system associated with the first autonomous vehicle, the one or more dispatch commands directing the first autonomous vehicle to move to the first location and execute the one or more emergency response functions,

wherein sending the one or more dispatch commands to the first on-board autonomous vehicle control system associated with the first autonomous vehicle causes the first on-board autonomous vehicle control system associated with the first autonomous vehicle to drive the first autonomous vehicle to the first location.

20. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by a computing platform comprising at least one processor, memory, and a communication interface, cause the computing platform to:

receive, via the communication interface, vehicle data associated with a first vehicle from a first on-board vehicle monitoring system associated with the first vehicle;

detect an occurrence of an emergency at a first location based on the vehicle data associated with the first vehicle received from the first on-board vehicle monitoring system associated with the first vehicle;

select a first autonomous vehicle to respond to the emergency at the first location based on autonomous vehicle state information;

generate one or more dispatch commands directing the first autonomous vehicle to move to the first location and execute one or more emergency response functions; and

send, via the communication interface, to a first on-board autonomous vehicle control system associated with the first autonomous vehicle, the one or more dispatch commands directing the first autonomous vehicle to move to the first location and execute the one or more emergency response functions,

wherein sending the one or more dispatch commands to the first on-board autonomous vehicle control system associated with the first autonomous vehicle causes the first on-board autonomous vehicle control system associated with the first autonomous vehicle to drive the first autonomous vehicle to the first location.