Methods and systems to determine and communicate driver performance

• US 9,994,172 B2
• Filed: 02/26/2015
• Issued: 06/12/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 02/26/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Miller, Kenneth James, Martin, Douglas Raymond
• Primary Examiner(s): SHERWIN, RYAN W
• Application Number:
  US14/632,040
• Publication Number:
  US 20160250983A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,202 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 16/0236 for economical driving
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0075 Automatic parameter input, automatic initialising or calibrating means
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2520/10 Longitudinal speed
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/10 Historical data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/09 Driving style or behaviour
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/14 Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention
• 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: Y02T 10/84 Data processing systems or methods, management, administration

Abstract

A method of rating driver effectiveness based on vehicle data compared to other vehicles that have driven over the same road segment includes storing driving speed data over a road segment for a plurality of vehicles. The method further includes calculating a nominal speed profile for the road segment based on the driving speed data. The method further includes comparing a speed profile of a subject vehicle to the nominal speed profile for the road segment and displaying a smoothness rating of the subject vehicle based on deviation of the speed profile from the nominal speed profile.

Claims

1. A vehicle comprising:

a vehicle computer programmed to;

store vehicle speed data in a memory; and

output a smoothness rating of the vehicle at a display, the smoothness rating generated based on integrating a difference between speed of the vehicle associated with a road segment and a nominal velocity profile of a plurality of vehicles that have driven on the road segment, divided by a distance of the road segment.

2. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the smoothness rating is generated at a remote network having at least one computer in communication with the vehicle computer.

3. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the computer is configured to communicate with a wireless transceiver to enable a communication link with a remote network having at least one computer programmed to calculate the nominal velocity profile of the road segment.

4. The vehicle of claim 3, wherein the at least one computer at the remote network is further programmed to calculate a standard deviation for the nominal velocity profile and compare the smoothness rating to the standard deviation.

5. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the computer is further programmed to generate a trip based on one or more road segments, calculate a trip smoothness rating based on the smoothness rating for each of the one or more road segments, and wherein the output of the smoothness rating at the display is in response to an arrival at a destination for the trip.

6. The vehicle of claim 5, wherein the destination is based on at least one of navigation system information, a key-off request, and a signal indicating a transmission in PARK.

7. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the output of the smoothness rating is delayed based on a predetermined value compared to at least one of vehicle speed and driver workload.

8. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the display is a nomadic device user interface that is in communication with the computer via a wireless transceiver.

9. A method comprising:

storing, in a database, driving speed data over a road segment for a plurality of vehicles;

calculating a nominal speed profile for the road segment using the driving speed data; and

displaying a driver smoothness rating based on integrating a difference between speed of the vehicle and nominal speed profile associated with the road segment, divided by a distance of the road segment.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising summing a smoothness rating for a plurality of road segments to generate a smoothness rating associated with a trip.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising displaying a smoothness rating for a user selectable previous driving distance.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising displaying an instantaneous smoothness rating for a current driving segment.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising providing a warning signal to a driver in response to a deviation from the nominal speed profile exceeding a predetermined threshold.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the warning signal comprises at least one of an audible signal, light signal, steering wheel vibration, and pedal vibration.

15. The method of claim 9, further comprising providing a recommendation message to a driver based on improving the smoothness rating.

16. The method of claim 9, further comprising transmitting the smoothness rating to an external computer.

17. A driver performance server comprising:

a processor configured to communicate with a vehicle computing system (VCS), the processor programmed to;

in response to vehicle data including a location and vehicle speed received from the VCS;

retrieve a road segment;

calculate a nominal velocity for the road segment based on a plurality of vehicles that have driven on the road segment;

calculate a smoothness rating based on integrating a difference between the nominal velocity and the vehicle speed for the road segment; and

transmit the smoothness rating to the VCS.

18. The server of claim 17, wherein the processor is further programmed to generate a trip based on one or more road segments, calculate a trip smoothness rating based on the smoothness rating for each of the road segments for the one or more road segments, and in response to an arrival at a destination for the trip, output the trip smoothness rating.

19. The server of claim 17, wherein the processor is further programmed to calculate a standard deviation for the nominal velocity and compare the standard deviation for the nominal velocity to a standard deviation of the smoothness rating.

20. The server of claim 17, wherein the smoothness rating is configured for output as a graph comparing the smoothness rating to the nominal velocity of the road segment.