Allstate Insurance Assigned Patent for Altering Autonomous, Semi-Autonomous Vehicle Operation

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Jan. 18 -- Allstate Insurance, Northbrook, Illinois, has been assigned a patent (No. 10,533,870, initially filed Oct. 16, 2017) developed by Mark Slusar, Chicago, Illinois, for "altering autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle operation based on route traversal values."

The full-text of the patent can be found at http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=10,533,870.PN.&OS=PN/10,533,870&RS=PN/10,533,870

The abstract states: "A method is disclosed for mitigating the risks associated with operating an autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle by using calculated route traversal values to select less risky travel routes and/or modify vehicle operation. Various approaches to achieving this risk mitigation are presented. A computing device is configured to generate a database of route traversal values. This device may receive a variety of historical route traversal information, real-time vehicle information, and/or route information from one of more data sources and calculate a route traversal value for the associated driving route. Subsequently, the computing device may provide the associated route traversal value to other devices, such as a vehicle navigation device associated with the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle. An insurance company may use this information to help determine insurance premiums for autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicles by analyzing and/or mitigating the risk associated with operating those vehicles."

Written by Ranjan Behera; edited by Sudarshan Harpal.