Accident response using autonomous vehicle monitoring

• US 9,646,428 B1
• Filed: 05/15/2015
• Issued: 05/09/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 05/20/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (State Farm)
• Original Assignee: State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (State Farm)
• Inventors: Christensen, Scott T., Hayward, Gregory, Konrardy, Blake, Farris, Scott
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Tyler J
• Application Number:
  US14/713,226
• Time in Patent Office: 725 Days
• Field of Search: 701 1, 701 23, 701 293, 701 322, 705 4
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 11/005 for lighting devices, e.g. indicating if lamps are burning or not
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 9/00 Arrangement or adaptation of signal devices not provided for in one of main groups B60Q1/00 - B60Q7/00 , e.g. haptic signalling
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2021/0027 Post collision measures, e.g. notifying emergency services
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 21/00 Arrangements or fittings on vehicles for protecting or preventing injuries to occupants or pedestrians in case of accidents or other traffic risks safety belts or body harnesses in vehicles B60R22/00; devices, apparatus or methods for life-saving in general A62B; safety devices for propulsion unit control specially adapted for, or arranged in, vehicles B60K28/00; seats constructed to protect the occupant from the effect of abnormal g-forces, e.g. crash or safety seats, B60N2/42; energy-absorbing arrangements for hand wheels for steering vehicles B62D1/11; energy-absorbing arrangements for vehicle steering columns B62D1/19; harnessing in aircraft B64D25/00
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2040/0818 Inactivity or incapacity of driver
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0095 Automatic control mode change
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0096 Control during transition between modes
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/16 Control of distance between vehicles, e.g. keeping a distance to preceding vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/09 Driving style or behaviour
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/931 of land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 15/931 of land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/931 of land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/13 Receivers
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/48 by combining or switching between position solutions derived from the satellite radio beacon positioning system and position solutions derived from a further system
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2013/9318 Controlling the steering
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/15 Vehicle, aircraft or watercraft design
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/20 Design optimisation, verification or simulation optimisation, verification or simulation of circuit designs G06F30/30
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0635 Risk analysis of enterprise or organisation activities
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/0855 involving a third party
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 : Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 : Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/40 : Business processes related to the transportation industry shipping G06Q10/083
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/597 : Recognising the driver's state or behaviour, e.g. attention or drowsiness
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 : communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/08 : Registering or indicating performance data other than driving, working, idle, or waiting time, with or without registering driving, working, idle or waiting time
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0808 : Diagnosing performance data testing of vehicles G01M17/00; testing of electrical installation on vehicles G01R31/005
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0816 : Indicating performance data, e.g. occurrence of a malfunction
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/085 : using electronic data carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/06 : indicating a condition of sleep, e.g. anti-dozing alarms
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/08 : using communication transmission lines G08B13/19658, G08B21/0286, G08B25/016 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/005 : including pedestrian guidance indicator
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096725 : where the received information generates an automatic action on the vehicle control
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096741 : where the source of the transmitted information selects which information to transmit to each vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/09675 : where a selection from the received information takes place in the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096758 : where no selection takes place on the transmitted or the received information
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096775 : where the origin of the information is a central station
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096783 : where the origin of the information is a roadside individual element
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096791 : where the origin of the information is another vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/143 : inside the vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/147 : where the parking area is within an open public zone, e.g. city centre
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/164 : Centralised systems, e.g. external to vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/165 : for passive traffic, e.g. including static obstacles, trees
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/166 : for active traffic, e.g. moving vehicles, pedestrians, bikes
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/167 : Driving aids for lane monitoring, lane changing, e.g. blind spot detection
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/205 : Indicating the location of the monitored vehicles as destination, e.g. accidents, stolen, rental
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 : specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/44 : for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/46 : for vehicle-to-vehicle communication [V2V]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 : Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]

Abstract

Methods and systems are provided for monitoring use of a vehicle having one or more autonomous (and/or semi-autonomous) operation features to determine and respond to incidents, such as collisions, thefts, or breakdowns. According to certain aspects, operating data from sensors within or near the vehicle may be used to determine when an incident has occurred and determine an appropriate response. The responses may include contacting a third party to provide assistance, such as local emergency services. In some embodiments, occurrence of the incident may be verified by automated communication with the vehicle operator.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for monitoring a vehicle having one or more autonomous operation features for controlling the vehicle, comprising:

receiving, at one or more processors, operating data regarding operation of the vehicle, wherein the operating data includes information from one or more sensors disposed within the vehicle and information regarding operation of the one or more autonomous operation features;

determining, by one or more processors, the occurrence of an incident involving the vehicle and a type of the incident based at least in part upon the received operating data during operation of the vehicle, including the information regarding operation of the one or more autonomous operation features;

determining, by one or more processors, a response to the incident based at least in part upon the received operating data, wherein the response includes a request for assistance from an emergency service provider, which request and emergency service provider are determined based upon the type of the incident; and

causing, by one or more processors, the response to be implemented at least in part by transmitting the request for assistance to the emergency service provider via a network.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the incident includes one or more of the following:

a collision, an accident, an indication of hard braking, an indication of hard acceleration, an indication of evasive maneuvering, a loss of traction, an indication of objects within a threshold distance from the vehicle, an indication of unauthorized access to the autonomous operation features by an external source, or an indication of attempted unauthorized access to the autonomous operation features by an external source.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the incident includes one or more of the following:

a component failure, inconsistent readings from a plurality of sensors within the vehicle, an engine malfunction, a flat tire, or an empty fuel tank.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the request for assistance includes information regarding one or more of the following:

the vehicle'"'"'s location, one or more types of assistance required, other vehicles involved in the incident, pedestrians involved in the incident, vehicle operators involved in the incident, or passengers involved in the incident.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the emergency service provider includes one or more of the following:

local police, state highway patrols, fire departments, emergency medical services, or ambulance services.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

contacting, by the network, the vehicle operator to verify the determination of the occurrence of the incident; and

receiving, by the network, a verification response from the vehicle operator, and

wherein the response to the incident is determined at least in part based upon the verification response from the vehicle operator.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the operating data includes communication data from external sources.

8. A computer system for monitoring a vehicle having one or more autonomous operation features for controlling the vehicle, comprising:

one or more processors;

one or more communication modules adapted to communicate data; and

a non-transitory program memory coupled to the one or more processors and storing executable instructions that when executed by the one or more processors cause the computer system to;

receive operating data regarding operation of the vehicle, wherein the operating data includes information from one or more sensors disposed within the vehicle and information regarding operation of the one or more autonomous operation features;

determine the occurrence of an incident involving the vehicle and a type of the incident based at least in part upon the received operating data during operation of the vehicle, including the information regarding operation of the one or more autonomous operation features;

determine a response to the incident based at least in part upon the received operating data, wherein the response includes a request for assistance from an emergency service provider, which request and emergency service provider are determined based upon the type of the incident; and

cause the response to be implemented at least in part by transmitting the request for assistance to the emergency service provider via the one or more communication modules.

9. The computer system of claim 8, wherein the incident includes one or more of the following:

a collision, an accident, an indication of hard braking, an indication of hard acceleration, an indication of evasive maneuvering, a loss of traction, an indication of objects within a threshold distance from the vehicle, an indication of unauthorized access to the autonomous operation features by an external source, or an indication of attempted unauthorized access to the autonomous operation features by an external source.

10. The computer system of claim 8, wherein the incident includes one or more of the following:

a component failure, inconsistent readings from a plurality of sensors within the vehicle, an engine malfunction, a flat tire, or an empty fuel tank.

11. The computer system of claim 8, wherein the request for assistance includes information regarding one or more of the following:

the vehicle'"'"'s location, one or more types of assistance required, other vehicles involved in the incident, pedestrians involved in the incident, vehicle operators involved in the incident, or passengers involved in the incident.

12. The computer system of claim 8, wherein the emergency service provider includes one or more of the following:

local police, state highway patrols, fire departments, emergency medical services, or ambulance services.

13. The computer system of claim 8, wherein the instruction further cause the computer system to:

contact the vehicle operator to verify the determination of the occurrence of the incident; and

receive a verification response from the vehicle operator,

wherein the response to the incident is determined at least in part based upon the verification response from the vehicle operator.

14. The computer system of claim 8, wherein the operating data includes communication data from external sources.

15. A tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions for monitoring a vehicle having one or more autonomous operation features for controlling the vehicle that, when executed by at least one processor of a computer system, cause the computer system to:

receive operating data regarding operation of the vehicle, wherein the operating data includes information from one or more sensors disposed within the vehicle and information regarding operation of the one or more autonomous operation features;

determine the occurrence of an incident involving the vehicle and a type of the incident based at least in part upon the received operating data during operation of the vehicle, including the information regarding operation of the one or more autonomous operation features;

determine a response to the incident based at least in part upon the received operating data, wherein the response includes a request for assistance from an emergency service provider, which request and emergency service provider are determined based upon the type of the incident; and

cause the response to be implemented at least in part by transmitting the request for assistance to the emergency service provider via a network.

16. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the incident includes one or more of the following:

a collision, an accident, an indication of hard braking, an indication of hard acceleration, an indication of evasive maneuvering, a loss of traction, an indication of objects within a threshold distance from the vehicle, an indication of unauthorized access to the autonomous operation features by an external source, or an indication of attempted unauthorized access to the autonomous operation features by an external source.

17. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the incident includes one or more of the following:

a component failure, inconsistent readings from a plurality of sensors within the vehicle, an engine malfunction, a flat tire, or an empty fuel tank.

18. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein:

the request for assistance includes information regarding one or more of the following;

the vehicle'"'"'s location, one or more types of assistance required, other vehicles involved in the incident, pedestrians involved in the incident, vehicle operators involved in the incident, or passengers involved in the incident; and

the emergency service provider includes one or more of the following;

local police, state highway patrols, fire departments, emergency medical services, or ambulance services.

19. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, further comprising instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of a computer system, cause the computer system to:

contact the vehicle operator to verify the determination of the occurrence of the incident; and

receive a verification response from the vehicle operator,

wherein the response to the incident is determined at least in part based upon the verification response from the vehicle operator.

20. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the operating data includes communication data from external sources.