Vehicle driver performance based on contextual changes and driver response

• US 10,493,994 B1
• Filed: 05/11/2017
• Issued: 12/03/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/11/2017
• 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 Mark
• Primary Examiner(s): Edwards, Jerrah
• Application Number:
  US15/592,467
• Time in Patent Office: 936 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/04 Traffic conditions
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/06 Road conditions
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/09 Driving style or behaviour
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/12 Limiting control by the driver depending on vehicle state, e.g. interlocking means for the control input for preventing unsafe operation
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0841 Registering performance data recording measured values G01D; information storage G11B
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0112 from the vehicle, e.g. floating car data [FCD]
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/012 from other sources than vehicle or roadside beacons, e.g. mobile networks
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0129 for creating historical data or processing based on historical data
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/017 identifying vehicles G08G1/015, G08G1/054 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096791 where the origin of the information is another vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/38 for collecting sensor information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/005 Moving wireless networks

Abstract

Systems and methods for determining the performance of a driver of a vehicle based on changes, over time, in the context and environment in which the vehicle operates, and any resultant driver behavior are disclosed. A set of driver response data is created from based on an analysis of time-series data indicative of the driver'"'"'s operation of the vehicle in conjunction with time-series data indicative of changes in the vehicle'"'"'s context/environment. The driver response data indicates the types and magnitudes of the driver'"'"'s responses to various changes in the vehicle'"'"'s operating context/environment and the driver'"'"'s time-to-respond for each of the responses. That is, the driver response data indicates how a driver compensated his or her behavior (if at all) in response to different changes in the vehicle'"'"'s context and/or environment. The driver response data may be compared to one or more thresholds to determine the driver'"'"'s performance.

Claims

1. A system for determining driver performance, the system comprising:

a set of sensors fixedly attached to a vehicle being operated by a driver;

a transmitter disposed at the vehicle to transmit, via a wireless communication channel, a first set of time-series data obtained by the set of sensors, wherein each data point included in the first set of time-series data is associated with a respective time stamp and a respective geospatial location; and

one or more remote computing devices communicatively connected to the wireless communication channel and including one or more processors, one or more memories, and a set of computer-executable instructions stored on the one or more memories and executable by the one or more processors to;

collect, via the wireless communication channel, the first set of time-series data obtained by the set of sensors of the vehicle;

collect a second set of time-series data representing attributes of an environment in which the vehicle is operating, wherein each data point included in the second set of time-series data associated with a respective time stamp and a respective geospatial location;

generate a set of response data indicative of responses of the driver to one or more changes of the attributes of the environment that occur while the driver is operating the vehicle by identifying changes in the first set of time-series data corresponding to respective changes in the second set of time-series data, the set of response data including data indicative of respective elapsed time intervals between changes in the first set of time-series data and respective changes in the second set of time-series data; and

generate, based on the set of response data corresponding, an indication of a level of performance of the driver to the one or more changes of the attributes of the environment.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the set of sensors fixedly connected to the vehicle is a first set of sensors, and the system further comprises a second set of sensors included on a personal electronic device corresponding to the driver and disposed in the vehicle, and the first set of time-series data includes data obtained by the second set of sensors.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the transmitter is one of fixedly attached to the vehicle or included in a personal electronic device corresponding to the driver and disposed in the vehicle.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the first set of sensors includes at least one of:

a camera, another type of optical sensor, a weight sensor, a speed sensor, a weight sensor, a noise sensor, a heat sensor, an accelerometer, another type of force sensor, a location tracking sensor, a proximity sensor, a seat belt sensor, a geo-positioning sensor, a sensor to detect an operation of an instrument included in the vehicle, a sensor to detect an operation of a system that controls one or more operational behaviors of the vehicle, or another sensor.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the second set of time-series data is indicative of at least one of:

a weather condition, a road condition, a road congestion, a traffic condition, a road topography, a speed limit, a jurisdictional sign, or other environmental condition.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising a model stored on the one or more memories of the one or more computing devices and executable by the one or more processors of the one or more computing devices, and wherein the first set of time-series data, the second set of time-series data, a map of the first time-series data and the second time-series data, or the set of response data indicative of responses of the driver to the one or more changes of the attributes of the environment is input into the model, thereby generating the indication of the level of performance of the driver.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the indication of the level of performance of the driver to the one or more changes of the attributes of the environment is based on a set of one or more thresholds generated based on historical data indicative of multiple drivers'"'"' respective responses to changes of the attributes of the environment.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the set of response data further includes at least one of:

data indicative of respective content of the driver'"'"'s respective responses, or data indicative of respective magnitudes of the driver'"'"'s respective responses.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the set of computer-executable instructions are further executable by the one or more processors to:

transmit, via the wireless communication channel to the vehicle, at least one of;

the indication of the level of driver performance, a suggested driving behavior, or an instruction to modify a behavior of a system disposed at the vehicle, thereby controlling one or more operational behaviors of the vehicle.

10. A method for determining driver performance, the method comprising:

collecting, via a wireless communication channel having one end terminating at a vehicle being operated by a driver, and by a set of remote computing devices communicatively connected to the wireless communication channel, a first set of time-series data obtained by a set of sensors fixedly attached the vehicle, wherein each data point included in the first set of time-series data is associated with a respective time stamp and a respective geospatial location;

mapping, by the set of remote computing devices, the first set of time-series data with a second set of time-series data to form a set of mapped time-series data based on at least one of time stamps or geospatial locations, the second set of time-series data indicative of contextual attributes of an environment in which the vehicle is operating, and each data point included in the second set of time-series data associated with a respective time stamp and a respective geospatial location;

generating, by the set of remote computing devices and based on the set of mapped time-series data, a set of response data indicative of respective responses of the driver to one or more changes to one or more conditions of the environment that occur while the driver is operating the vehicle in the environment, the set of response data including data indicative of respective elapsed time intervals between respective occurrences of the one or more changes to the one or more conditions and the driver'"'"'s respective responses;

generating, based on the set of response data corresponding to the driver, an indication of a level of performance of the driver to the one or more changes to the one or more conditions of the environment; and

transmitting, to at least one of the vehicle being operated by the driver, a user interface, or another computing device, at least one of the indication of the level of performance of the driver or at least a portion of the set of response data corresponding to the driver.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein at least one of:

collecting the first set of time-series data obtained by the set of sensors fixedly attached to the vehicle comprises collecting the first set of time-series data obtained from at least one of;

a camera, another type of optical sensor, a weight sensor, a speed sensor, a weight sensor, a noise sensor, a heat sensor, an accelerometer, another type of force sensor, a location tracking sensor, a proximity sensor, a seat belt sensor, a geo-positioning sensor, a sensor to detect an operation of an instrument included in the vehicle, a sensor to detect an operation of a system that controls one or more operational behaviors of the vehicle, or another sensor;

or

collecting the first set of time-series data includes collecting the data obtained by the set of sensors fixedly attached to the vehicle and data obtained by at least one of;

a first set of sensors included on a personal electronic device corresponding to the driver and disposed in the vehicle;

or a second set of sensors disposed separately from the vehicle and in the environment in which the vehicle is operating.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein mapping the first set of time-series data and the second set of time-series data comprises aligning, over a time interval, at least a portion of the first set of time-series data and at least a portion of the second set of time-series data.

13. The method of claim 10,

further comprising obtaining at least a portion of the second set of time-series data from another computing system communicatively connected to the set of remote computing devices,

wherein the second set of time-series data is indicative of at least one of:

a weather condition, a road condition, a road congestion, a traffic condition, a road topography, a speed limit, a jurisdictional sign, or other environmental condition.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein:

the at least the portion of the second set of time-series data obtained from the another computing system is a first portion of the second set of time-series data; and

the method further comprises obtaining a second portion of the second set of time-series data from at least one of;

the set of sensors fixedly attached to the vehicle, a personal electronic device corresponding to the driver and disposed at the vehicle, or another set of sensors disposed separately from the vehicle and in the environment in which the vehicle is operating.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein generating the set of response data comprises generating the set of response data to include at least one of:

data indicative of respective content of the driver'"'"'s respective responses, or data indicative of respective magnitudes of the driver'"'"'s respective responses.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein:

generating, based on the set of response data corresponding to the driver, the indication of the level of performance of the driver comprises applying a model to at least one of the first set of time-series data, the second set of time-series data, the set of mapped time-series data, or the set of response data corresponding to the driver, the model generated based on historical data indicative of multiple drivers'"'"' respective responses to the one or more changes to the one or more conditions of the environment; and

generating the indication of the level of performance of the driver comprises receiving, based on the application of the model, the indication of the level of performance of the driver.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

receiving, based on the application of the model, at least one of;

a suggested driving behavior or an indication of an instruction that is to be provided to the vehicle to automatically modify an operation of a subsystem of vehicle to modify one or more operational behaviors of the vehicle; and

transmitting an indication of the suggested driving behavior or the indication of the instruction that is to be provided to the vehicle to the vehicle.

18. The method of claim 10, further comprising transmitting, to the vehicle via the wireless communication channel for presentation on a user interface at the vehicle, at least one of:

the indication of the level of driver performance or a suggested driving behavior.

19. The method of claim 10, further comprising, transmitting, to the vehicle via the wireless communication channel, an instruction to automatically modify a behavior of a subsystem disposed at the vehicle that controls one or more operational behaviors of the vehicle.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein transmitting the instruction to automatically modify the behavior of the subsystem disposed at the vehicle is based on a user permission.