Caravan management

• US 9,141,112 B1
• Filed: 10/16/2013
• Issued: 09/22/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/16/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Allstate Insurance Company (Allstate Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Allstate Insurance Company (Allstate Corporation)
• Inventors: Loo, William, Brandmaier, Jennifer A., Ramirez, Philip Peter
• Primary Examiner(s): Beaulieu, Y.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Troost, Aaron L
• Application Number:
  US14/055,198
• Time in Patent Office: 706 Days
• Field of Search: 701/400, 701/422, 701/533, 701/538, 705/4, 705/12
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/28 with correlation of data from several navigational instruments
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/34 Route searching; Route guidance
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0293 Convoy travelling
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0295 by at least one leading vehicle of the fleet
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096816 where the complete route is transmitted to the vehicle at once
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096838 where the user preferences are taken into account or the user selects one route out of a plurality
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096844 where the complete route is dynamically recomputed based on new data
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096861 where the immediate route instructions are output to the driver, e.g. arrow signs for next turn
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096866 where the complete route is shown to the driver
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096883 where input information is obtained using a mobile device, e.g. a mobile phone, a PDA
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/22 Platooning, i.e. convoy of communicating vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/08 User group management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/46 for vehicle-to-vehicle communication [V2V]

Abstract

Methods, computer-readable media, software, and apparatuses provide a system for forming and managing a caravan of vehicles. The system may include computing devices in a plurality of vehicles belonging to a caravan. The computing devices participating in the caravan may communicate various information to each other. This information may be used to generate and manage a route for the caravan. The system may also be used to select a leader and/or order of the caravan for a particular trip. During the trip, the system may monitor the caravan and analyze inputs from participants and vehicles. Further, the system may modify the route based on such inputs and distribute the modified route to participating computing devices so that the caravan may be maintained.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a first computing device in a first vehicle;

a second computing device in a second vehicle, the second computing device configured to communicate with the first computing device; and

a third computing device configured to;

receive first information from the first computing device;

receive second information from the second computing device;

generate a route based on the first information and the second information;

determine a suggested leader of a caravan, comprising the first vehicle and the second vehicle, based on insurance rates of a first driver of the first vehicle and a second driver of the second vehicle, wherein the suggested leader is whichever driver of the first driver and the second driver has a lowest insurance rate;

transmit the route to the first computing device and the second computing device; and

transmit a suggestion identifying the suggested leader to the first computing device and the second computing device.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising at least one of the first vehicle and the second vehicle.

3. The system of claim 1,

wherein the first information comprises first user preferences of a first person and the second information comprises second user preferences of a second person,

wherein the third computing device is further configured to analyze the first user preferences and the second user preferences to determine a place to stop, and

wherein the route is generated to include the place to stop.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the first computing device is further configured to:

prompt a user to complete a survey; and

transmit results of the survey to the third computing device.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the third computing device is further configured to:

monitor a distance between the first vehicle and the second vehicle; and

alert the first vehicle to slow down if the distance exceeds a predetermined distance.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the third computing device is further configured to:

determine whether to modify the route based on vehicle information indicating a problem with at least one of the first vehicle and the second vehicle; and

when modifying the route, transmit the modified route to the first computing device and the second computing device.

7. The system of claim 1,

wherein the caravan comprises one or more additional vehicles, and

wherein the third computing device is further configured to determine a recommended order in which all vehicles in the caravan should travel.

8. The system of claim 7,

wherein the recommended order is determined based on past driving behavior, and

wherein the recommended order recommends that a particular vehicle be positioned between other vehicles in the caravan because the past driving behavior associated with a particular driver of the particular vehicle indicates that the particular driver is more likely than other drivers in the caravan to drive through a red traffic light.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the recommended order is determined based on properties of the vehicles in the caravan.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the recommended order is determined based on stopping distances of the vehicles in the caravan.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the third computing device is further configured to:

monitor a distance between the first vehicle and the second vehicle; and

prompt a person in the second vehicle to confirm that the second vehicle intends to leave the caravan if the distance exceeds a predetermined distance.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the third computing device is further configured to determine whether a third vehicle within a certain distance of the first vehicle or the second vehicle wishes to join the caravan.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the third computing device is further configured to establish a chat session in response to a start of a trip by the caravan.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the third computing device is further configured to:

transmit, to the first computing device, information regarding how well the second driver is driving; and

transmit, to the second computing device, information regarding how well the first driver is driving.

15. A computing device, comprising:

a network interface configured to communicate with one or more additional computing devices;

a user interface module configured to receive input from a user in a first vehicle; and

a processor configured to;

associate the first vehicle with one or more second vehicles to form a group of vehicles;

collect first information from the user in the first vehicle;

collect, from at least one of the one or more additional computing devices, second information related to at least one passenger in at least one of the one or more second vehicles of the group;

determine a route based on the first information and the second information;

determine a suggested leader of the group of vehicles based on insurance rates of drivers of the group of vehicles, wherein the suggested leader is whichever driver of the drivers has a lowest insurance rate; and

output a suggestion identifying the suggested leader.

16. The computing device of claim 15, wherein the processor is further configured to:

modify the route based on a first input; and

cause the network interface to transmit the modified route to at least one of the one or more additional computing devices.

17. The computing device of claim 15,

wherein the network interface is configured to receive weather information from at least one of the one or more additional computing devices;

and

wherein the processor is further configured to;

modify the route based on the weather information; and

cause the network interface to transmit the modified route to at least one of the one or more additional computing devices.

18. The computing device of claim 15, wherein the network interface is configured to communicate with the one or more additional computing devices via a wireless communication system.

20. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

receiving an input, by one of the computing devices, the input comprising vehicle information indicating a condition of a vehicle;

modifying the route to include a stop based on the vehicle information; and

transmitting the modified route to at least one of the computing devices in at least one of the vehicles in the caravan.

19. A method, comprising:

configuring a plurality of computing devices with a caravan manager;

associating, by at least one of the computing devices, a group of vehicles in a caravan;

generating a route for the caravan based on information obtained from at least one of the computing devices;

identifying drivers of at least two of the vehicles in the caravan;

selecting one of the drivers as a leader based on insurance rates of the drivers, wherein the leader is whichever driver of the drivers has a lowest insurance rate;

transmitting a suggestion indicating the leader to at least one of the computing devices; and

transmitting the route to at least one of the computing devices.