Real-time driver observation and scoring for driver's education

• US 9,530,333 B1
• Filed: 03/21/2016
• Issued: 12/27/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (State Farm)
• Original Assignee: State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (State Farm)
• Inventors: Fields, Brian Mark, He, Jibo, Nepomuceno, John A., Roberson, Steve, Plummer, Bryan Allen, Houdek, Kurtis C., Jain, Neeraj
• Primary Examiner(s): Utama, Robert J
• Application Number:
  US15/076,142
• Time in Patent Office: 281 Days
• Field of Search: 434/66, 434/65
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/18 for vehicle drivers or machine operators
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0064 using a remote, e.g. cordless, transmitter or receiver unit, e.g. remote keypad or mobile phone
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0075 Automatic parameter input, automatic initialising or calibrating means
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/10 Historical data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/09 Driving style or behaviour
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3676 Overview of the route on the road map
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0104 Measuring and analyzing of parameters relative to traffic conditions
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 19/14 Traffic procedures, e.g. traffic regulations
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 19/16 Control of vehicles or other craft simulators G09B9/02
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 19/167 Control of land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 29/106 using electronic means
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/00 Electrically-operated educational appliances working with questions and answers G09B7/00; simulators G09B9/00; advertising or displaying in general G09F
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/125 the stations being mobile
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 9/02 for teaching control of vehicles or other craft
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 9/04 for teaching control of land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 9/042 providing simulation in a real vehicle G09B9/052, G09B9/058 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 9/052 characterised by provision for recording or measuring trainee's performance devices for psychotechnics, e.g. for vehicle drivers A61B5/16, A61B5/18

Abstract

A method includes, during a driving session in which a student driver operates a vehicle, gathering driving skill data indicative of at least one of behavior of the student driver, acceleration of the vehicle, braking of the vehicle, or steering of the vehicle, and gathering comments from a driving instructor about the driving session. The method also includes generating a driving session report corresponding to the driving session. The driving session report includes at least one score based on the driving skill data, and the comments from the driving instructor about the driving session. Still further, the method includes causing the driving session report to be displayed on a display device.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

during a driving session in which a student driver operates a vehicle while observed by a driving instructor;

gathering driving skill data indicative of vehicle operation by the student driver from one or more sensors in a mobile device, the one or more sensors including at least one of the following;

an accelerometer array, a geopositioning device, or an image capture device, and

gathering comments from the driving instructor regarding vehicle operation at one or more geographic locations along a route traveled by the vehicle during the driving session, wherein the comments are gathered using a user interface of the mobile device and are each associated with one of the one or more geographic locations based upon data gathered from the one or more sensors;

generating a driving session report corresponding to the driving session, including;

at least one score based on the gathered driving skill data, and

the gathered comments from the driving instructor about the driving session; and

causing the driving session report to be displayed on a display device for review.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

gathering one or more additional comments from the driving instructor regarding vehicle operation by the student driver using the user interface,

wherein the driving session report further includes the one or more additional comments.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the gathered driving skill data indicative of vehicle operation by the student driver includes indications of one or more of the following:

a behavior of the student driver during vehicle operation, acceleration of the vehicle, braking of the vehicle, or steering of the vehicle.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the driving session report corresponding to the driving session includes:

calculating a plurality of scores corresponding to one or more of the following;

gaze location, scanning frequency, lane deviation, lane centering, time to collision, braking, acceleration, or steering of the student driver; and

combining the plurality of scores to generate a composite score representative of a performance of the student driver during the driving session,

wherein the at least one score included in the driving session report includes at least one of the plurality of scores and the composite score.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein at least one of the plurality of scores is calculated using a weighting factor adjusted for the student driver based upon previous driving sessions of the student driver.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein:

gathering the driving skill data includes gathering a plurality of gaze location log entries using the at least one image capture device, each of the plurality of gaze location log entries indicating a duration of a gaze of the student driver in a particular direction.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the comments from the driving instructor about the driving session include comment text written by the driving instructor.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the comments from the driving instructor about the driving session include at least one audio comment recorded by the driving instructor.

9. A system comprising:

one or more processors;

a user interface;

one or more sensors, including at least one of the following;

an accelerometer array, a geopositioning device, or an image capture device;

a non-transitory memory storing computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to;

during a driving session in which a student driver operates a vehicle while observed by a driving instructor;

gather driving skill data indicative of vehicle operation by the student driver from the one or more sensors, and

gather comments from the driving instructor regarding vehicle operation at one or more geographic locations along a route traveled by the vehicle during the driving session using the user interface, wherein the comments are each associated with one of the one or more geographic locations based upon data gathered from the one or more sensors;

generate a driving session report corresponding to the driving session, including;

at least one score based on the gathered driving skill data, and

the gathered comments from the driving instructor about the driving session; and

causing the driving session report to be displayed on the user interface for review.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein:

the non-transitory memory further stores computer-readable instructions that cause the one or more processors to gather one or more additional comments from the driving instructor regarding vehicle operation by the student driver using the user interface, and

the driving session report further includes the one or more additional comments.

11. The system of claim 9,

wherein generating the driving session report further includes generating a map, wherein the map includes a representation of each of the comments from the driving instructor at the geographic location corresponding to each of the comments from the driving instructor, and

wherein causing the driving session report to be displayed on the user interface includes causing the map to be displayed on the user interface.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the computer-readable instructions further cause the one or more processors to detect one or more driving events during the driving session based on the driving skill data, wherein each of the one or more driving events is associated with one of the one or more geographic locations along the route traveled by the vehicle during the driving session.

13. The system of claim 12,

wherein generating the driving session report further includes generating a map, wherein the map includes a representation of each of the one or more driving events at the geographic location corresponding to each of the one or more driving events, and

wherein causing the driving session report to be displayed on the user interface includes causing the map to be displayed on the user interface.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the driving skill data indicative of vehicle operation by the student driver includes indications of one or more of the following:

a behavior of the student driver during vehicle operation, acceleration of the vehicle, braking of the vehicle, or steering of the vehicle.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein the at least one score based on the gathered driving skill data is calculated using a weighting factor adjusted for the student driver based upon previous driving sessions of the student driver.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein:

gathering the driving skill data includes gathering a plurality of gaze location log entries using the at least one image capture device, each of the plurality of gaze location log entries indicating a duration of a gaze of the student driver in a particular direction.

17. The system of claim 9, wherein the at least one score includes an acceleration, braking, or steering score based on first portions of the driving skill data generated by the accelerometer and a gaze location, scanning frequency, lane deviation, lane centering, or time to collision score based on second portions of the driving skill data generated by the image capture device.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a computer system, cause the computer system to:

during a driving session in which a student driver operates a vehicle while observed by a driving instructor;

gather driving skill data indicative of vehicle operation by the student driver from one or more sensors in the computer system, the one or more sensors including at least one of the following;

an accelerometer array, a geopositioning device, or an image capture device, and

gather comments from the driving instructor regarding vehicle operation at one or more geographic locations along a route traveled by the vehicle during the driving session, wherein the comments are gathered using a user interface of the computer system and are each associated with one of the one or more geographic locations based upon data gathered from the one or more sensors;

generate a driving session report corresponding to the driving session, including;

at least one score based on the gathered driving skill data, and

the gathered comments from the driving instructor about the driving session; and

cause the driving session report to be displayed on a display device for review.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, further comprising instructions that cause the computer system to gather one or more additional comments from the driving instructor regarding vehicle operation by the student driver using the user interface, wherein the driving session report includes the one or more additional comments.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the at least one score based on the gathered driving skill data is calculated using a weighting factor adjusted for the student driver based upon previous driving sessions of the student driver.