Designing Prefererred Vehicle Routes Based on Driving Scores From Other Vehicles

• US 20170270789A1
• Filed: 06/05/2017
• Published: 09/21/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 02/02/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Allstate Insurance Company (Allstate Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Allstate Insurance Company (Allstate Corporation)
• Inventors: Ferguson, Dana
• Granted Patent: US 10,332,397 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/09 Driving style or behaviour
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/34 Route searching; Route guidance
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3453 Special cost functions, i.e. other than distance or default speed limit of road segments
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3484 Personalized, e.g. from learned user behaviour or user-defined profiles
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0112 from the vehicle, e.g. floating car data [FCD]
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/012 from other sources than vehicle or roadside beacons, e.g. mobile networks
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0125 Traffic data processing
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0129 for creating historical data or processing based on historical data
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0141 for traffic information dissemination
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096811 where the route is computed offboard
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096816 where the complete route is transmitted to the vehicle at once
• 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 1/096844 where the complete route is dynamically recomputed based on new data

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for designing a preferred route for a vehicle. The route designing system receives a request from the vehicle for a preferred route from a first geographical point to a second geographical point. The route designing system analyzes the request and obtains driving scores associated with drivers of other vehicles. The route designing unit may identify a set of preferred and non-preferred vehicles based on the driving scores. The route designing system then determines a preferred route based, at least in part, on the driving scores associated with drivers of the other vehicles. The preferred route is designed to minimize the likelihood of proximity to non-preferred vehicles and maximize the likelihood of proximity to preferred vehicles.

Claims

1. A networked system comprising:

a route designing system comprising at least one processor and a memory storing at least a driver score analysis unit and a route planning unit, that when executed by the at least one processor, cause the route designing system to;

determine, by the at least one processor, driving scores associated with drivers of each of a plurality of vehicles, wherein the plurality of vehicles does not include a first vehicle;

associate, by the at least one processor, the plurality of vehicles with one of a set of preferred vehicles and a set of non-preferred vehicles based, at least in part, on the driving scores of the drivers of each of the plurality of vehicles;

associate, by the at least one processor, vehicles in the set of preferred vehicles and vehicles in the set of non-preferred vehicles with a plurality of potential routes;

identify, by the at least one processor, a plurality of potential routes from a first geographical point to a second geographical point for the first vehicle; and

determine, by the at least one processor, a preferred route from the plurality of potential routes, wherein the preferred route is designed to at least one of;

maximize a likelihood of proximity to the vehicles in the set of preferred vehicles and minimize the likelihood of proximity to the vehicles in the set of non-preferred vehicles; and

a route designing unit located in the first vehicle communicatively coupled to the route designing system, comprising a first processor and a first memory storing computer-readable instructions, that when executed by the first processor, cause the route designing unit to;

output the preferred route, determined by the route designing system, to a user interface device located in the first vehicle, wherein the user interface device is configured to visually display textual information and to output alerts.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the route planning unit, when executed by the at least one processor, further causes the route designing system to:

determine a preferred route based, at least in part, on a comparison of an aggregate number of preferred vehicles and an aggregate number of non-preferred vehicles for each of the potential routes in the plurality of potential routes, wherein the aggregate number of preferred vehicles is a number of vehicles in the set of preferred vehicles associated with a potential route, and wherein the aggregate number of non-preferred vehicles is a number of vehicles in the set of non-preferred vehicles associated with the potential route.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the route planning unit is configured to identify the preferred route as the potential route with the highest aggregate number of preferred vehicles of the plurality of potential routes.

4. The system of claim 2 wherein the route planning unit is configured to identify the preferred route as the potential route with the fewest aggregate number of non-preferred vehicles of the plurality of potential routes.

5. The of claim 2 wherein the route planning unit is configured to identify the preferred route as the potential route with the greatest difference between the aggregate number of preferred vehicles and the aggregate number of non-preferred vehicles of the plurality of potential routes.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the route planning unit, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the route designing system to:

determine a preferred route based, at least in part, on a comparison of an aggregate distance to preferred vehicles and an aggregate distance to non-preferred vehicles for each of the potential routes in the plurality of potential routes, wherein the aggregate distance to preferred vehicles is a cumulative distance between the first vehicle and each of the vehicles in the set of preferred vehicles, and wherein the aggregate distance to non-preferred vehicles is a cumulative distance between the first vehicle and each of the vehicles in the non-preferred vehicles.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the route planning unit, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the route designing system to:

determine a preferred route based, at least in part, on a comparison of an aggregate driving score for each of the potential routes in the plurality of potential routes, wherein the aggregate driving score is cumulative of the driving scores of the vehicles in the set of preferred vehicles and the vehicles in the set of non-preferred vehicles associated with a potential route.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the route designing unit to:

transmit an alert to a driver associated with the first vehicle, wherein the alert includes information pertaining to the preferred route.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the driver score analysis unit, when executed by the at least one processor, further causes the route designing system to:

determine updated driving scores associated with the drivers of each of the plurality of vehicles; and

wherein the route designing unit is configured to transmit an alert to a driver associated with the first vehicle, wherein the alert includes information pertaining to the updated driving scores.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein the driver score analysis unit and the route planning unit, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the route designing system to:

determine updated driving scores associated with the drivers of each of the plurality of vehicles; and

modify the preferred route based, at least in part, on updated driving scores associated with the drivers of each of the plurality of vehicles.

11. A method of designing a preferred route comprising:

determining, by a processor, a plurality of potential routes from a first geographical point to a second geographical point for a first vehicle;

retrieving, by the processor, driving scores associated with drivers of each of a plurality of vehicles, wherein the plurality of vehicles are associated with the plurality of potential routes;

associate, by the processor, the plurality of vehicles with one of a set of preferred vehicles and a set of non-preferred vehicles based, at least in part, on the driving scores of the drivers of each of the plurality of vehicles;

determining, by the processor, a preferred route from the plurality of potential routes, wherein the preferred route is designed to maximize a likelihood of proximity to the vehicles in the set of preferred vehicles; and

outputting the preferred route to a user interface device located in the first vehicle, wherein the user interface device is configured to visually display textual information and to output alerts.

12. The computer-assisted method of claim 11 further comprising:

determining a preferred route based, at least in part, on a comparison of an aggregate number of preferred vehicles and an aggregate number of non-preferred vehicles for each of the potential routes in the plurality of potential routes, wherein the aggregate number of preferred vehicles is a number of vehicles in the set of preferred vehicles associated with a potential route, and wherein the aggregate number of non-preferred vehicles is a number of vehicles in the set of non-preferred vehicles associated with the potential route.

13. The computer-assisted method of claim 12 wherein the preferred route is the potential route with the greatest difference between the aggregate number of preferred vehicles and the aggregate number of non-preferred vehicles of the plurality of potential routes.

14. The computer-assisted method of claim 11 further comprising:

determining a preferred route based, at least in part, on a comparison of an aggregate distance to preferred vehicles and an aggregate distance to non-preferred vehicles for each of the potential routes in the plurality of potential routes, wherein the aggregate distance to preferred vehicles is a cumulative distance between the first vehicle and each of the vehicles in the set of preferred vehicles, and wherein the aggregate distance to non-preferred vehicles is a cumulative distance between the first vehicle and each of the vehicles in the set of non-preferred vehicles.

15. The computer-assisted method of claim 14 wherein the preferred route is designed to maintain at least a threshold non-preferred distance between the first vehicle and at least some of the vehicles in the set of non-preferred vehicles.

16. The computer-assisted method of claim 11 further comprising:

determining a preferred route based, at least in part, on a comparison of an aggregate driving score for each of the potential routes in the plurality of potential routes, wherein the aggregate driving score is cumulative of the driving scores of the vehicles in the set of preferred vehicles and the vehicles in the set of non-preferred vehicles associated with a potential route.

17. The computer-assisted method of claim 11 further comprising:

transmitting an alert to a driver associated with the first vehicle, wherein the alert includes information pertaining to the preferred route.

18. The computer-assisted method of claim 11 further comprising:

determining updated driving scores associated with the drivers of each of the plurality of vehicles; and

transmitting an alert to a driver associated with the first vehicle, wherein the alert includes information pertaining to the updated driving scores.

19. The computer-assisted method of claim 11 further comprising:

determine updated driving scores associated with the drivers of each of the plurality of vehicles; and

modify the preferred route based, at least in part, on updated driving scores associated with the drivers of each of the plurality of vehicles.

20. A tangible computer-readable memory storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause a networked system of devices to perform a method comprising:

determining, by the at least one processor, a plurality of potential routes from a first geographical point to a second geographical point for a first vehicle;

retrieving, by the at least one processor, driving scores associated with drivers of each of a plurality of vehicles, wherein the plurality of vehicles are associated with the plurality of potential routes;

associate, by the at least one processor, the plurality of vehicles with one of a set of preferred vehicles and a set of non-preferred vehicles based, at least in part, on the driving scores of the drivers of each of the plurality of vehicles;

determining, by the at least one processor, a preferred route from the plurality of potential routes, wherein the preferred route is designed to minimize the likelihood of proximity to the vehicles in the set of non-preferred vehicles; and

outputting the preferred route to a user interface device located in the first vehicle, wherein the user interface is configured to visually display textual information and to output alerts.