Driver feedback alerts based upon monitoring use of autonomous vehicle

• US 9,767,516 B1
• Filed: 05/15/2015
• Issued: 09/19/2017
• 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: Konrardy, Blake, Christensen, Scott T., Hayward, Gregory, Farris, Scott
• Primary Examiner(s): Ebersman, Bruce I
• Assistant Examiner(s): BRADLEY, JOSHUA DANIEL
• Application Number:
  US14/713,223
• Time in Patent Office: 858 Days
• Field of Search: 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 for monitoring use, determining risk, and alerting an operator of a vehicle having one or more autonomous (and/or semi-autonomous) operation features are provided. According to certain aspects, operating data from sensors within the vehicle may be used to determine risks associated with use of the features, which may include use at particular levels or with certain settings. The risk levels may be compared with warning thresholds to determine whether safe operation may be maintained under the operating conditions. When the risk levels exceed a threshold, a warning may be generated and presented to the vehicle operator, which may include information regarding the risks. The vehicle operator may then change the use levels or select an option to change the use levels of the features. The response of the vehicle operator may be used to determine or adjust aspects of an insurance policy associated with the vehicle.

Claims

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

monitoring, by one or more processors, operating data regarding operation of the vehicle at a plurality of times during vehicle operation, wherein the operating data includes information regarding conditions of an environment within which the vehicle is operating from one or more sensors disposed within the vehicle and information regarding the one or more autonomous operation features, wherein the information regarding the one or more autonomous operation features includes information regarding control decisions not implemented by the one or more autonomous operation features;

receiving, at one or more processors, information regarding current use levels of the one or more autonomous operation features at the plurality of times during vehicle operation;

determining, by one or more processors, one or more autonomous operation risk levels associated with operation of the vehicle under the current use levels based at least in part upon changes in one or more of the conditions of the environment during vehicle operation indicated by the operating data and one or more additional autonomous operation risk levels associated with operation of the vehicle associated with the control decisions not implemented;

determining, by one or more processors, whether the determined risk levels exceed the additional risk levels by a warning threshold; and

causing, by one or more processors, an alert to be presented to a vehicle operator when the determined risk levels are determined to exceed the warning threshold.

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

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the communication data includes information regarding risk levels associated with the conditions of the environment within which the vehicle is operating.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the operating data excludes information regarding the vehicle operator.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the alert includes an indication of a factor causing the determined risk levels to exceed the warning threshold.

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

receiving, at one or more processors, a selection by the vehicle operator relating to use of the autonomous operation features; and

causing, by one or more processors, a change to the current use levels of the autonomous operation features of the vehicle based upon the selection.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, further comprising causing, by a processor, an adjustment to be made to an insurance policy associated with the vehicle based at least in part upon the change to the current use levels of the autonomous operation features of the vehicle.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein the adjustment to the insurance policy includes at least one of a discount or a reward associated with the insurance policy.

9. 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;

monitor operating data regarding operation of the vehicle at a plurality of times during vehicle operation, wherein the operating data includes information regarding conditions of an environment within which the vehicle is operating from one or more sensors disposed within the vehicle and information regarding the one or more autonomous operation features, wherein the information regarding the one or more autonomous operation features includes information regarding control decisions not implemented by the one or more autonomous operation features;

receive information regarding current use levels of the one or more autonomous operation features at the plurality of times during vehicle operation;

determine one or more autonomous operation risk levels associated with operation of the vehicle under the current use levels based at least in part upon changes in one or more of the conditions of the environment during vehicle operation indicated by the operating data and one or more additional autonomous operation risk levels associated with operation of the vehicle associated with the control decisions not implemented;

determine whether the determined risk levels exceed the additional risk levels by a warning threshold; and

cause an alert to be presented to a vehicle operator when the determined risk levels are determined to exceed the warning threshold.

10. The computer system of claim 9, wherein the operating data includes communication data from external sources.

11. The computer system of claim 10, wherein the communication data includes information regarding risk levels associated with the conditions of the environment within which the vehicle is operating.

12. The computer system of claim 9, wherein the operating data excludes information regarding the vehicle operator.

13. The computer system of claim 9, wherein the alert includes an indication of a factor causing the determined risk levels to exceed the warning threshold.

14. The computer system of claim 9, wherein the executable instructions further cause the computer system to:

receive a selection by the vehicle operator relating to use of the autonomous operation features;

cause a change to the current use levels of the autonomous operation features of the vehicle based upon the selection; and

cause an adjustment to be made to an insurance policy associated with the vehicle based at least in part upon the change to the current use levels of the autonomous operation features of the vehicle.

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:

monitor operating data regarding operation of the vehicle at a plurality of times during vehicle operation, wherein the operating data includes information regarding conditions of an environment within which the vehicle is operating from one or more sensors disposed within the vehicle and information regarding the one or more autonomous operation features, wherein the information regarding the one or more autonomous operation features includes information regarding control decisions not implemented by the one or more autonomous operation features;

receive information regarding current use levels of the one or more autonomous operation features at the plurality of times during vehicle operation;

determine one or more autonomous operation risk levels associated with operation of the vehicle under the current use levels based at least in part upon changes in one or more of the conditions of the environment during vehicle operation indicated by the operating data and one or more additional autonomous operation risk levels associated with operation of the vehicle associated with the control decisions not implemented;

determine whether the determined risk levels exceed the additional risk levels by a warning threshold; and

cause an alert to be presented to a vehicle operator when the determined risk levels are determined to exceed the warning threshold.

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

17. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the communication data includes information regarding risk levels associated with the conditions of the environment within which the vehicle is operating.

18. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the operating data excludes information regarding the vehicle operator.

19. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the alert includes an indication of a factor causing the determined risk levels to exceed the warning threshold.

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

receive a selection by the vehicle operator relating to use of the autonomous operation features;

cause a change to the current use levels of the autonomous operation features of the vehicle based upon the selection; and

cause an adjustment to be made to an insurance policy associated with the vehicle based at least in part upon the change to the current use levels of the autonomous operation features of the vehicle.