SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DETERMINING AN INSURANCE PREMIUM BASED ON COMPLEXITY OF A VEHICLE TRIP

• US 20140019170A1
• Filed: 09/17/2013
• Published: 01/16/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/19/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hartford Fire Insurance Company (The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hartford Fire Insurance Company (The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc.)
• Inventors: Coleman, Mark S., Barbato, Darrel S., Huang, Lihu
• Granted Patent: US 8,799,035 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/4
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance

Abstract

Systems and methods are disclosed herein for pricing an insurance premium based on route complexity. The system includes a computer memory and a processor in communication with the computer memory. The computer memory stores telematics data received from a sensor within a vehicle. The telematics data includes at least one of geo-position information of the vehicle and vehicle kinematics data. The processor is configured to compute a complexity score of the trip based on the telematics data. The processor is also configured to determine a price for automobile insurance for the driver based on the complexity score of the at least one trip.

Claims

1. A computer system for determining an insurance premium, comprising:

one or more data storage devices storing;

data received from one or more data collection sensors and collected by the one or more data collection sensors while within a vehicle during at least one trip by the vehicle, the received data comprising at least data indicative of changes in orientation of the vehicle during the at least one trip; and

a central processing unit comprising one or more processors, wherein the central processing unit is configured to;

retrieve from the one or more data storage devices at least a portion of the data indicative of changes in orientation of the vehicle received from the one or more data collection sensors;

determine a trip complexity score of the at least one trip based on at least a fractal dimension of a route traversed by the vehicle during the at least one trip derived from the data indicative of changes in orientation of the vehicle received from the one or more data collection sensors;

store the determined trip complexity score;

determine a premium for automobile insurance for the vehicle based at least in part on the determined trip complexity score; and

output the determined automobile insurance premium.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the data received from the one or more data collection sensors further comprises data indicative of acceleration and deceleration of the vehicle collected by the one or more data collection sensors while within the vehicle during the at least one trip, and the central processing unit is further configured to determine the trip complexity score further based on at least the data indicative of acceleration and deceleration of the vehicle during the at least one trip.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the data received from the one or more data collection sensors further comprises global positioning data collected by the one or more data collection sensors while within the vehicle during the at least one trip, and the central processing unit is further configured to determine the trip complexity score further based on at least the global positioning data.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more data collection sensors are sensors of a data collection device, the data collection device further comprising a central processing unit in communication with the one or more data collection sensors, and a memory, a user interface and a wireless communications device in communication with the central processing unit.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the one or more data collection sensors comprise at least one accelerometer and at least one global navigation satellite system receiver.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the data collection device is further configured for connection to a computer system of the vehicle via an OBD port connector, and the central processing unit is further configured to retrieve data received from the vehicle computer system and to determine the premium for automobile insurance for the vehicle at least in part on the data received from the vehicle computer system.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the central processing unit is further configured to determine an overall complexity rating for a driver based on complexity scores calculated for a plurality of trips taken by the driver, and to determine the premium for automobile insurance based at least in part on the overall complexity rating.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the central processing unit is further configured to determine the overall complexity rating by weighting complexity scores for the plurality of trips by at least one of distance and time duration of the trips.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the central processing unit is configured to determine the fractal dimension of the route based on at least one of box-counting dimension calculation, correlation dimension calculation and Lyaponuv exponents calculation.

10. The system for collecting vehicle data and determining an insurance premium, comprising:

a non-transitory computer-readable medium, the non-transitory computer-readable medium storing processor-executable instructions thereon, which instructions, when executed by a processor of a data collection device, cause the processor of the data collection device to;

receive from one or more data collection sensors of the data collection device, data collected by the one or more data collection sensors while within the vehicle during at least one trip by the vehicle, the received data comprising at least data indicative of changes in orientation of the vehicle during the at least one trip;

provide at least a portion of the received data to an insurance computing system; and

an insurance computing system, comprising;

one or more data storage devices configured to store data provided by the data collection device in accordance with the instructions on the non-transitory computer-readable medium; and

a central processing unit comprising one or more processors, wherein the central processing unit is configured to;

retrieve from the one or more data storage devices at least a portion of the data indicative of changes in orientation of the vehicle received from the data collection device;

determine a trip complexity score of the at least one trip based on at least a fractal dimension of a route traversed by the vehicle during the at least one trip derived from the data indicative of changes in orientation of the vehicle received from the data collection device;

store the determined trip complexity score;

determine a premium for automobile insurance for the vehicle based at least in part on the determined trip complexity score; and

output the determined automobile insurance premium.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the instructions further cause the processor of the data collection device to calculate trip complexity and provide data indicative of the calculated trip complexity to the insurance computing system.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the instructions further cause the processor of the data collection device to receive and provide to the insurance computing system additional vehicle data including one or more of speed data, driving location data, time of day of travel data and vehicle safety data, and wherein the central processing unit of the insurance computing system is further configured to base the insurance premium at least in part on the additional vehicle data.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the instructions further cause the processor of the data collection device to receive from a vehicle computer system data about one or more of vehicle speed, number of miles traveled, whether the vehicle is running or not, seatbelt usage, airbag deployment and vehicle diagnostics, and to provide the data received from the vehicle computer system to the insurance computing system.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the instructions cause the processor of the data collection device to provide data to the insurance computing system via a wireless communications device of the data collection device.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the instructions cause the processor of the data collection device to store data in a memory of the data collection device at intervals based on determined route complexity.

16. A computer-implemented method for determining an insurance premium, comprising:

storing in one or more data storage devices of an insurance computing system;

data received from one or more data collection sensors and collected by the one or more data collection sensors while within a vehicle during at least one trip by the vehicle, the received data comprising at least data indicative of changes in orientation of the vehicle during the at least one trip;

retrieving by one or more processors of the insurance computing system from the one or more data storage devices at least a portion of the data indicative of changes in orientation of the vehicle received from the one or more data collection sensors;

determining by the one or more processors a trip complexity score of the at least one trip based on at least a fractal dimension of a route traversed by the vehicle during the at least one trip derived from the data indicative of changes in orientation of the vehicle received from the one or more data collection sensors;

storing by the one or more processors the determined trip complexity score in one or more data storage devices;

determining by the one or more processors a premium for automobile insurance for the vehicle based at least in part on the determined trip complexity score; and

outputting by the one or more processors the determined automobile insurance premium.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 16, wherein the one or more data collection sensors are sensors of a data collection device, the data collection device further comprising a central processing unit in communication with the one or more data collection sensors, and a memory, a user interface and a wireless communications device in communication with the central processing unit, the memory comprising computer-readable instructions which, when executed by the central processing unit, cause data collected by the one or more data collection sensors to be transmitted by the wireless communications device to the insurance computing system.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 16, wherein the determining a premium comprises one of determining a premium for a new automobile insurance plan, retroactively adjusting a premium for a period during which the data was collected by the one or more data collection sensors, and prospectively adjusting a premium for automobile insurance for a future period.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 16, further comprising determining an overall complexity rating for a driver based on complexity scores calculated for a plurality of trips taken by the driver, and determining the premium for automobile insurance based at least in part on the overall complexity rating.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 16, wherein the one or more data collection sensors comprise at least an accelerometer and a global navigation satellite system receiver, and the determining the fractal dimension of the route comprises using both accelerometer data and global positioning data.