Vehicle data snapshot for fleet

• US 10,486,709 B1
• Filed: 01/16/2019
• Issued: 11/26/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 01/16/2019
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Mezaael, Abraham
• Primary Examiner(s): Akki, Munear T
• Application Number:
  US16/249,496
• Time in Patent Office: 314 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0075 Automatic parameter input, automatic initialising or calibrating means
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/30 Driving style
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/45 External transmission of data to or from the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/09 Driving style or behaviour
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/0098 Details of control systems ensuring comfort, safety or stability not otherwise provided for
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0858 wherein the data carrier is removable
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/167 Driving aids for lane monitoring, lane changing, e.g. blind spot detection
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/22 Platooning, i.e. convoy of communicating vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/46 for vehicle-to-vehicle communication [V2V]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

A vehicle includes a controller programmed to responsive to detecting a predefined driving event indicative of discrediting driving behavior, verify the driving event against a predefined scenario stored as a snapshot; responsive to failing to find a matching scenario, analyze the driving event using a predefined algorithm to verify whether the driving event is unintended; and responsive to verifying the driving event is unintended, save the driving event as a new snapshot.

Claims

1. A vehicle subscribed to a usage-based insurance (UBI), comprising:

a controller, programmed to

responsive to detecting a predefined driving event indicative of discrediting driving behavior, check the driving event against a predefined scenario stored as a snapshot to verify a fidelity of the driving event;

responsive to the fidelity of the driving event indicative of failing to find a matching scenario, analyze the driving event using a predefined algorithm to verify whether the driving event is unintended;

responsive to verifying the driving event is not unintended, report the driving event to a server;

responsive to verifying the driving event is unintended, save the driving event as a new snapshot; and

send the new snapshot to a fleet vehicle subscribed to the UBI via a wireless transceiver of the vehicle through vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) connection.

2. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the controller is further programmed to send the new snapshot to a cloud via a telematics control unit (TCU) to share the detected driving event.

3. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the controller is further programmed to, responsive to receiving a snapshot package update, update the snapshot.

4. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the driving event includes at least one of:

a hard-braking event, a hard-acceleration event, a harsh cornering event, an excessive speed event, a lane changing without signal event, or an excessive idling event.

5. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the V2V connection is established between the vehicle and the fleet vehicle using at least one of the following technologies:

radio-frequency identification (RFID), near-field communication (NFC), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and/or dedicated short-range communication (DSRC).

6. A portable device, in communication with an in-vehicle network of a vehicle, comprising:

a processor, programmed to

responsive to detecting a predefined driving event indicative of discrediting driving behavior via a sensor of the vehicle, check the driving event against a predefined scenario stored as a snapshot to verify a fidelity of the driving event;

responsive to the fidelity of the driving event indicative of failing to find a matching scenario, analyze the driving event using predefined algorithm to verify if the driving event is unintended;

responsive to verifying the driving event is not unintended, report the driving event to a server;

responsive to verifying the driving event is unintended, save the driving event as a new snapshot; and

send the new snapshot to a fleet vehicle subscribed to usage-based insurance (UBI) via a wireless transceiver of the vehicle through vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) connection.

7. The portable device of claim 6, wherein the processor is further programmed to

send the new snapshot to a cloud via a wireless transceiver of the portable device to share the detected driving event.

8. The portable device of claim 6, wherein the processor is further programmed to

receive a snapshot package update from a cloud via a TCU of the vehicle to update the snapshot.

9. The portable device of claim 6, wherein the portable device is connected to the in-vehicle network of the vehicle via an on-board diagnostic II (OBD-II) port.

10. The portable device of claim 6, wherein the driving event includes at least one of:

hard-braking event, a hard-acceleration event, a harsh cornering event, an excessive speed event, a lane changing without signal event, or an excessive idling event.

11. The portable device of claim 6, wherein the V2V connection is established between the vehicle and the fleet vehicle using at least one of the following technologies:

RFID, NFC, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and/or DSRC.

12. A method for a vehicle, comprising:

responsive to detecting a predefined driving event indicative of discrediting driving behavior via an electronic control unit, checking the driving event against a predefined snapshot stored in a snapshot package to verify a fidelity of the driving event;

responsive to the fidelity of the driving event indicative of failing to find a matching snapshot, analyzing the driving event using predefined algorithm to verify if the driving event is unintended;

responsive to verifying the driving event is not unintended, report the driving event to a server;

responsive to verifying the driving event is unintended, create a new snapshot for the driving event to add into the snapshot package; and

send the new snapshot to a fleet vehicle subscribed to usage-based insurance (UBI) via a wireless transceiver of the vehicle through vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) connection.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

sending the new snapshot to a cloud via a TCU to share the driving event.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

responsive to receiving a snapshot package update, updating the snapshot package.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

receiving a generated snapshot from a fleet vehicle via a V2V connection.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the V2V connection is established between the vehicle and the fleet vehicle using at least one of the following technologies:

RFID, NFC, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and/or DSRC.