Route Risk Mitigation

• US 20160189307A1
• Filed: 04/27/2015
• Published: 06/30/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/10/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Allstate Insurance Company (Allstate Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Allstate Insurance Company (Allstate Corporation)
• Inventors: Bogovich, Jason Brian, Jordan Peters, Julie A.
• Granted Patent: US 10,037,578 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/26 specially adapted for navigation in a road network
• 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 21/3461 Preferred or disfavoured areas, e.g. dangerous zones, toll or emission zones, intersections, manoeuvre types, segments such as motorways, toll roads, ferries
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0635 Risk analysis of enterprise or organisation activities
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096816 where the complete route is transmitted to the vehicle at once
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096827 where the route is computed onboard
• 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 1/205 Indicating the location of the monitored vehicles as destination, e.g. accidents, stolen, rental
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/024 Guidance services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]

Abstract

A method is disclosed for mitigating the risks associated with driving by assigning risk values to road segments and using those risk values to select less risky travel routes. Various approaches to helping users mitigate risk are presented. A computing device is configured to generate a database of risk values. That device may receive accident information, geographic information, vehicle information, and other information from one or more data sources and calculate a risk value for the associated road segment. Subsequently, the computing device may provide the associated risk value to other devices. Furthermore, a personal navigation device may receive travel route information and use that information to retrieve risk values for the road segments in the travel route. An insurance company may use this information to determine whether to adjust a quote or premium of an insurance policy. This and other aspects relating to using geographically encoded information to promote and reward risk mitigation are disclosed.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

providing vehicle insurance for a vehicle at a cost;

sending, by a location detection unit, a travel route of the vehicle;

receiving, at a telematics device from the location detection unit, a route value for the travel route of the vehicle, wherein the route value is based on at least part of the accident information, wherein the accident information comprises accident loss information; and

adjusting, by the telematics device, the cost of the vehicle insurance for the vehicle based on the route value.

2. The method of claim 1, comprising:

aggregating, by the telematics device, the route value for each of a plurality of travel routes of the vehicle to calculate a total risk score; and

where the adjusting is further based at least in part on the total risk score.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the vehicle is designated in a predetermined class based on the total risk score, and the adjusting is further based at least in part on the predetermined class.

4. The method of claim 1, comprising:

providing, by an output device, notification of a credit if the cost of vehicle insurance is less after the adjusting.

5. The method of claim 1, comprising:

providing, by an output device, notification of a debit if the cost of vehicle insurance is greater after the adjusting.

6. The method of claim 1, comprising:

identifying, by the location detection unit, arrival at an end location of the travel route;

determining, by the telematics device, the route value for the travel route of the vehicle between a start location and the end location; and

when a policy period expires, determining a cost of the insurance policy based on the total risk score.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

deducting, by an insurance provider computer system communicatively coupled to the telematics device, the cost of the vehicle insurance from an account associated with the vehicle.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising

receiving, by the location detection unit, a plurality of locations of the vehicle comprising at least a first location and a second location;

retrieving, by a risk unit consumption processor in communication with the location detection unit, segment values for a plurality of road segments comprising a route of the vehicle from the first location to the second location, wherein a segment value is based on two or more of road topology information associated with a corresponding road segment along the route of the vehicle, weather condition information associated with the corresponding road segment, and a direction of vehicle travel through the corresponding road segment;

aggregating, by the risk unit consumption processor, the segment values for the plurality of road segments to calculate the route value, wherein the route value indicates safety risk of the route independent of a specific driver of the vehicle.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the first position comprises a start location of the route traveled by the vehicle and the second location comprises an end location of the travel route traveled by the vehicle.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the location detection unit is one of a mobile location tracking device and a global positioning satellite unit.

11. A system comprising:

a vehicle;

a location detection unit located in the vehicle and configured to detect locations of the vehicle comprising at least a first location and a second location;

a computer processor in communication with the location detection unit; and

a computer memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the system to;

provide vehicle insurance for a vehicle at a cost;

receive, from the location detection unit, a travel route of the vehicle;

determine, by the computer processor, a route value for the travel route of the vehicle, wherein the route value is based on at least part of the accident information, wherein the accident information comprises accident loss information; and

adjust, by the computer processor, the cost of the vehicle insurance for the vehicle based on the route value.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the first location comprises a start location associated with a segment of a route and the second location comprises an end location of the segment of the route.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the computer processor and computer memory are part of a telematics device, which is in coupled to an onboard diagnostic system of the vehicle, configured to monitor and record consumption of safety risk units based on the safety risk score of the route.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the location detection unit is one of a mobile location tracking device and a global positioning satellite unit.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the route value is based on at least in part on geographic information and vehicle direction.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause a telematics device, to:

provide vehicle insurance for a vehicle at a cost;

receive, from a location detection device, a travel route of the vehicle;

determine, by the computer processor, a route value for the travel route of the vehicle, wherein the route value is based on at least part of the accident information, wherein the accident information comprises accident loss information; and

adjust, by the computer processor, the cost of the vehicle insurance for the vehicle based on the route value.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the first location comprises a start location associated with a segment of a route and the second location comprises an end location of the segment of the route.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the computer processor and computer memory are part of a telematics device, which is in coupled to an onboard diagnostic system of the vehicle, configured to monitor and record consumption of safety risk units based on the safety risk score of the route.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the location detection unit is one of a mobile location tracking device and a global positioning satellite unit.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the route value is based on at least in part on geographic information and vehicle direction.