Fleet vehicle feature activation

• US 10,627,831 B2
• Filed: 08/25/2016
• Issued: 04/21/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 08/25/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Allstate Insurance Company (Allstate Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Allstate Insurance Company (Allstate Corporation)
• Inventors: Hayes, Howard, Kumar, Surender
• Primary Examiner(s): Lang, Michael D
• Application Number:
  US15/247,018
• Publication Number:
  US 20180059687A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,335 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2530/209 Fuel quantity remaining in tank
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2555/20 Ambient conditions, e.g. wind or rain
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 60/00186 related to the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 60/0059 Estimation of the risk associated with autonomous or manual driving, e.g. situation too complex, sensor failure or driver incapacity
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3407 specially adapted for specific applications
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3415 Dynamic re-routing, e.g. recalculating the route when the user deviates from calculated route or after detecting real-time traffic data or accidents
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/343 Calculating itineraries, i.e. routes leading from a starting point to a series of categorical destinations using a global route restraint, round trips, touristic trips travelling salesman problem G06Q10/04; optimisation of routes G06Q10/047
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3469 Fuel consumption; Energy use; Emission aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3492 employing speed data or traffic data, e.g. real-time or historical traffic control systems for road vehicles involving transmission of navigation instructions to the vehicle G08G1/0968
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3605 Destination input or retrieval
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3691 Retrieval, searching and output of information related to real-time traffic, weather, or environmental conditions arrangements for giving variable traffic instructions G08G1/09
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0005 with arrangements to save energy
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0022 characterised by the communication link data switching networks in general H04L12/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0027 involving a plurality of vehicles, e.g. fleet or convoy travelling fleet control of land vehicles from a control room G05D1/0297; traffic control systems for road vehicles G08G1/00; for marine craft G08G3/00; for aircraft G08G5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0217 in accordance with energy consumption, time reduction or distance reduction criteria
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0291 Fleet control monitoring fleets in traffic control systems for road vehicles G08G1/127, G08G1/127
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096816 where the complete route is transmitted to the vehicle at once
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096822 where the segments of the route are transmitted to the vehicle at different locations and times
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096844 where the complete route is dynamically recomputed based on new data
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/202 Dispatching vehicles on the basis of a location, e.g. taxi dispatching

Abstract

A system including a processor and memory may provide for automatically activating or deactivating a feature of a fleet vehicle. For example, one or more fleet vehicles may include one or more of a global-positioning system, a speed governor, electronically-controlled brakes, an electronically-controlled accelerator, a speed limiter, or an on-board computer with a processor and memory. One or more features may be activated by a local or remote computing device or system. For example, a system may determine one or more recommended routes between two or more locations. The system may track a fleet vehicle'"'"'s progress along a route, and activate a feature of the fleet vehicle based on the fleet vehicle following or not following the recommended route. For example, the system may cause activation of a speed limiter on the fleet vehicle, disable the fleet vehicle, and/or activate or deactivate autonomous features of the fleet vehicle.

Claims

1. A method of activating and deactivating one or more features of a fleet vehicle of a fleet comprising a plurality of fleet vehicles, the method comprising:

determining, by a computing device comprising a processor and memory, a driving route of the fleet vehicle of the fleet comprising the plurality of fleet vehicles, the driving route being from a starting location to a destination location;

receiving, by the computing device, from a global positioning system in the fleet vehicle, route information of the fleet vehicle indicating that the fleet vehicle is no longer at the starting location and is adhering to the driving route;

determining, by the computing device, that a feature of the fleet vehicle is deactivated; and

after receiving the route information of the fleet vehicle and determining that the feature of the fleet vehicle is deactivated, causing, by the computing device, activation of the feature of the fleet vehicle based on determining that the fleet vehicle is adhering to the driving route.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the fleet vehicle includes autonomous or semi-autonomous functionality, and

wherein causing the activation of the feature of the fleet vehicle comprises at least one of:

activating a speed limiter of the fleet vehicle,

activating a brake of the fleet vehicle,

activating an accelerator of the fleet vehicle,

activating a self-driving function of the fleet vehicle,

turning on a radio of the fleet vehicle,

turning off the radio of the fleet vehicle,

turning on hazard lights of the fleet vehicle,

activating a traction control system of the fleet vehicle,

turning the fleet vehicle, or

disabling the fleet vehicle.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein causing the activation of the feature of the fleet vehicle comprises at least activating the speed limiter of the fleet vehicle, and wherein activating the speed limiter of the fleet vehicle comprises activating a device that limits a rotational speed of an engine of the fleet vehicle.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein a road on the driving route comprises at least one sensor or transmitter configured to communicate with an onboard computer of the fleet vehicle, the at least one sensor or transmitter supporting the autonomous or semi-autonomous functionality of the fleet vehicle.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein causing the activation of the feature of the fleet vehicle comprises:

transmitting, by the computing device, via a cellular network, to a different computing device that is part of the fleet vehicle, an instruction to activate the feature of the fleet vehicle.

6. The method of claim 1, comprising:

determining a risk score for each segment of a plurality of segments along the driving route, the risk score for each segment corresponding to a dollar amount of risk associated with the segment; and

determining a total risk of the driving route from the starting location to the destination location, the total risk being a sum of the risk score for each segment of the plurality of segments, and the total risk of the driving route corresponding to a total dollar amount of risk associated with the driving route,

wherein activating the feature of the fleet vehicle comprises activating the feature of the fleet vehicle based on the total risk of the driving route being below a threshold value.

7. The method of claim 6, comprising:

determining a different driving route from the starting location to the destination location, the different driving route comprising a different plurality of segments, at least one segment of the different plurality of segments being different from at least one segment of the plurality of segments along the driving route.

8. The method of claim 7, comprising:

determining a risk score for each segment of the different driving route; and

determining a total risk of the different driving route, the total risk of the different driving route being a sum of the risk score for each segment of the different driving route, and the total risk of the different driving route corresponding to a total dollar amount of risk associated with the different driving route.

9. The method of claim 8, comprising:

determining, based on the total dollar amount of risk associated with the driving route and the total dollar amount of risk associated with the different driving route, whether the driving route or the different driving route has a lower amount of risk; and

based on whether the driving route or the different driving route has the lower amount of risk, providing a recommended route for the fleet vehicle from the starting location to the destination location, the recommended route having the lower amount of risk.

10. The method of claim 6, comprising:

determining a current risk score for the driving route based on the fleet vehicle departing the starting location at a current time;

determining a future risk score for the driving route based on the fleet vehicle departing the starting location at a future time after the current time; and

providing the current risk score and the future risk score for display.

11. The method of claim 6, comprising:

determining a first risk score for a first potential driver of the fleet vehicle for the driving route;

determining a second risk score for a second potential driver of the fleet vehicle for the driving route; and

recommending a driver for the fleet vehicle for the driving route, based on the first risk score for the first potential driver and the second risk score for the second potential driver.

12. The method of claim 6, wherein determining the risk score for each segment is based on at least one of a type of the fleet vehicle, a type of cargo in the fleet vehicle, traffic conditions of the segment, a time of day that the fleet vehicle will be in the segment, or weather conditions of the segment.

13. The method of claim 6, comprising:

determining a number of turns along the driving route,

wherein determining the total risk of the driving route is based on the number of turns along the driving route.

14. The method of claim 6, comprising:

determining a different total risk of each of a plurality of different potential driving routes for a plurality of fleet vehicles comprising the fleet vehicle; and

based on at least one factor associated with the plurality of fleet vehicles, providing a respective recommended route for each of the plurality of fleet vehicles.

15. The method of claim 6, comprising:

generating for display a risk profile of the driving route, the risk profile comprising details of one or more factors contributing to the total risk of the driving route.

16. The method of claim 15, comprising:

determining a plurality of different potential driving routes;

determining a corresponding total risk for each of the plurality of different potential driving routes;

eliminating at least one of the plurality of different potential driving routes based on the corresponding total risk of the at least one of the plurality of different potential driving routes being above the threshold value; and

receiving a selection of one of the plurality of different potential driving routes.

17. The method of claim 6, comprising:

generating for display information regarding the driving route, the information regarding the driving route comprising one or more of the total dollar amount of risk associated with the driving route, traffic conditions along the driving route, total travel time of the driving route, estimated fuel usage for the driving route, or road conditions of the driving route.

18. The method of claim 6, wherein determining the risk score for each segment is based on a plurality of factors, and comprises:

determining a first weight for a first factor of the plurality of factors;

determining a second weight for a second factor of the plurality of factors; and

determining a weighted score based on the first weight for the first factor and the second weight for the second factor, wherein the weighted score is the risk score for the segment.

19. Non-transitory computer-readable media storing executable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause a system to:

determine a starting location of a fleet vehicle of a fleet comprising a plurality of fleet vehicles, the fleet vehicle capable of at least one autonomous or semi-autonomous function;

receive a destination location for the fleet vehicle;

determine a driving route from the starting location to the destination location;

receive, from a global positioning unit in the fleet vehicle, information indicating that the fleet vehicle is no longer at the starting location and is not along the driving route; and

after receiving the information indicating that the fleet vehicle is no longer at the starting location and is not along the driving route, activate the at least one autonomous or semi-autonomous function of the fleet vehicle based on the fleet vehicle not being along the driving route.

20. A system comprising:

at least one processor;

non-transitory memory storing executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to;

determine a driving route of a fleet vehicle from a starting location to a destination location;

receive location information of the fleet vehicle from a computing device in the fleet vehicle;

determine that the fleet vehicle is no longer at the starting location and is adhering to the driving route; and

after receiving the location information of the fleet vehicle, activate an autonomous or semi-autonomous function of the fleet vehicle, based on a location of the fleet vehicle adhering to the driving route.