Patent Issued for Automated, telematics-based system with score-driven triggering and operation of automated sharing economy risk-transfer systems and corresponding method thereof (USPTO 11580474): Swiss Reinsurance Company Ltd.

2023 MAR 07 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- From Alexandria, Virginia, NewsRx journalists report that a patent by the inventors Bongers, Sebastiaan (Au, CH), Genovese, Donato (Zurich, CH), Naves Sordo, Hector (Zurich, CH), Perl, Andri (Oberhasli, CH), filed on March 2, 2017, was published online on February 14, 2023.

The patent’s assignee for patent number 11580474 is Swiss Reinsurance Company Ltd. (Zurich, Switzerland).

News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Sharing economy as well as peer-to-lending economy practices have become increasingly popular in recent years. From swapping systems to network transportation to private kitchens, sharing with strangers appears to be a new social trend. Although Uber, Airbnb, and other online platforms have shared access to a variety of services and facilities, issues have been raised as to public safety, health, and limited liability of these sharing economy practices. In addition, these innovative and fast developing practices have been counteracted by professionals offering similar services by arguing that the sharing economy and peer-to-peer lending opens the door to unfair competition. Regulators are challenged since there is a need to protect possible users of these practices from fraud, liability, and unskilled service providers. The related technical problems are complex since they touch many fields and often the border line to pure private use and risk-transfer is difficult to draw. However, the regulations and applied technology of these practices should still protect a user in a manner similar to the way in which they are protected by existing regulations for equivalent commercial services. At least, such regulations should serve the same goal, namely to protect possible users and to allow a safe use of such practices. On the other side, possible technical solutions applied to these problems and corresponding regulations should not restrict the innovative growth of shared economy practices, since the social and environmental benefits are virtually undisputed.

“In general, the term “shared economy” is intended to capture new, collaborative forms of creation, production, distribution, trade and consumption of goods and services that are being enabled by new technological platforms. In this, Uber, and the like, at very least, allow one to begin imagining a different configuration of urban transportation services. The fundamental idea behind shared economy and peer-to-peer lending technologies is that such technology should enable society to use their resources more efficiently by replacing the ownership of goods with access. New, innovative technologies, such as real-time interconnecting mobile apps and online platforms, help to provide the technical backbone that allows for the unlocking of what is called the “idle capacities”, for example of houses, cars, tools and utilities, by matching the haves of certain people with the wants of other people. Such technologies may thus help to reduce overall consumption and represent an important step towards more sustainable lifestyles. Ride-sharing is an example of a sharing economy: people driving from A to B can harness the “idle capacity” of their cars by filling their seats and splitting the cost of gas with travelers going to the same destination. Uber and its competitors such as Didi Chuxing or Lyft provide appropriate real-time or on-demand ride-hailing apps. However, as already mentioned, there is no clear distinction from the professional practices with approved technologies. These apps pretend to provide “ride-sharing” or “ride-hailing” services, which is, however, deceiving. Often, drivers, using such shared economy technology, do not happen to be riding through town and spontaneously decide to give somebody a ride. They are often semi-professional or private individuals looking to top up their paychecks, working as “informal” taxi drivers. Since they are on the road because of the app, it is not possible to speak of “idle capacity” here. Nothing is actually being shared, mislabeling themselves a “car-sharing” service, when, in fact, they are a private transportation company.

“Moreover, there are more problems. Platforms like Uber are built on top of venture-capital-backed, hierarchically structured organizations. These platforms typically enable people to share their resources, skills, and time, as well as to finance and produce their goods in mildly more collaborative ways. However, in fact, they are little more than a transactional form of “sharing” not much different than that of conventional capitalist exchange. While the pretense of “sharing” should be the basis of the services, their offerings rarely mirror the actual penetration of collaboration in their organizational structure. Like Uber, a normally classical Weberian hierarchy is inherent, based upon a vertical, linear understanding of hierarchical superiority and subordination. At the bottom of the company, are the drivers who lack employment protection, have no official wage, and no say as regards their rights. Above the drivers, are the founders and management, who set the rules and aims of the organization and impose their decisions on the drivers. Above them, are the shareholders who provide capital for the organization, and who try to maximize the values of the shares through increased profits. With profit-maximization as their ultimate operational logic, companies like Uber, Lyft, and many others of the sharing economy, invariably favor efficiency over social impact, output over outcome. Such organizations put more emphasis on the question of maximization of profit, and not on the quality of the product that they produce, nor upon their social and environmental impact. Lastly, there are the users, who are confronted with a broad spectrum of risk-related uncertainties while using peer-to-peer lending or shared economy services. Thus, there is a real demand to provide technical solutions for these kinds of services.

“It must be clarified that the term “sharing economy transportation” is normally not used in connection with car sharing network companies such as Uber. These firms typically call their services “ride sourcing” in order to clarify that drivers do not share a destination with their passengers. Nevertheless, their apps allow for the simple outsourcing of rides to commercial drivers. Therefore, even though these transportation network companies are advertised as ridesharing, they are in fact dispatched commercial operators, similar to taxi services. Examples of these “ride sourcing” companies are the aforementioned Uber, Lyft and/or Via and Haxi. In the context of the present application, the differentiation of shared economy and ride sourcing has no implication to the inventive system.

“Other problems arise due to the fact, that classical risk-sharing or risk-transfer models are based on individual consulting services and individual contracting by human agents. Additionally, the risk-transfer is typically conducted in advance and for a predefined time period. However, for the ad-hoc decision-based shared economy and peer-to-peer lending schemes, such traditional methods can no longer be applied. Today, more than 200 start-ups, funded by approximately $2 billion in backing, compete in the growing market for peer-to-peer sharing of physical assets (cf. the “Sharing S-Curve”, illustrating the sectorial growth in car sharing and peer-to-peer vehicle lending as compared to traditional car rentals, http://www.pwc.co.uk/issues/megatrends/collisions/sharingeconomy/the-sharing-economy-sizing-the-revenue-opportunity.html). These include “objects” such as cars, rides, accommodation, tools, toys, apparel, and household appliances. An example is the renting out of spare rooms or entire apartments as one of the services. According to the Economist, every day, Airbnb coordinates stays of over 40.000 people in more than 250.000 apartments, rooms, and houses in more than 30.000 cities distributed in 192 countries around the world during the summer of 2013. These figures are comparable to those of the biggest hotel chains such as InterContinental or Renaissance. Going beyond the example of Airbnb used to describe the sharing economy, the spectrum of goods or services that are conveyed via the World Wide Web is not limited to apartment stays, as discussed above. Besides flats and rooms, the sharing economy extends to books, DVDs, parking spots, access to Wi-Fi networks, vehicles, rides, neighborly help, creative projects, business ideas, loans, products for children, private lessons, groceries, own time or skills etc. Sharing economy schemes are not even limited to peer-to-peer markets such as eBay, Airbnb, or Getaround. Besides selling and renting, other forms of sharing include lending, donating, and barter. Access to something instead of ownership thereof is always at the center of the services. However, consumers and users are mostly left alone with the ever-evolving forms of sharing, because sharing usually occurs in private, as opposed to the work and market worlds. In addition, appropriate regulations for the protection of users are often impracticable, since there are no technical solutions which allow for the implementation of possible regulations or to cope with the dynamic and real-time interaction requirements of shared economy and peer-to-peer lending. Lastly, the above discussed mere amount of conducted shared economy and peer-to-peer lending transaction does not allow for the application of the traditional risk-transfer schemes, but need for automated systems that can be operated in real-time, electronically interacting with the described web-based shared economy or peer-to-peer lending platforms and systems.”

There is additional summary information. Please visit full patent to read further.

As a supplement to the background information on this patent, NewsRx correspondents also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “It is one object of the present invention to provide a fully automated automotive and telematics-based risk-transfer system, in particular in the field of connected platforms related to sharing economy systems (such as for example UBER, Didi Chuxing Taxi, Rakuten (Lyft), Via and Haxi, or own platforms of OEMs, such as for example Car2Go (Daimler) or DriveNow (BMW)) and corresponding insurance systems. In particular, it is an object of the present invention to provide a fully automated risk-transfer system allowing automated and dynamic adaptable risk-transfer in real-time. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a mobile automotive system that dynamically reacts, in real-time, to captured environmental or operational parameters of motor vehicles during operation, in particular to measuring parameters of automotive systems, allowing a user to dynamically and in real-time adapt a vehicle’s operation or driving risks by means of an automated risk-transfer engine allowing to dynamically select appropriate risk-transfer profiles, based upon monitoring, capturing and reacting to automotive parameters of motor vehicles during operation. Furthermore, it is an object of the invention to dynamically trigger automated, telematics-based automotive systems based on real-time capturing of vehicle telematics data. In particular, it is an object of the present invention to extend the existing technology to a dynamically triggered and dynamically adjustable, multi-tier risk-transfer system based on a dynamically adaptable or even floating first-tier level risk-transfer, thereby reinforcing the importance of developing automated systems allowing reactive self-sufficient, real-time operation. Another object of the invention seeks to provide a way to technically capture, handle and automate dynamically adaptable, complex and difficult to compare risk transfer structures by the user and trigger related operations to automate optimally shared risks and transfer operations. Another object of the invention is to dynamically synchronize and adjust such operations to changing environmental or operational conditions by means of invasive telematics data, harmonized use of telematics between the different risk-transfer systems based on an appropriate technical trigger structure approach, thus making the different risk-transfer approaches comparable. In contrast to standard practice, the resource pooling systems of the different risk-transfer system shall create a comparable risk-transfer structure, allowing to optimize risk-transfer operation with the desired, technically-based, repetitive accuracy that relies on technical means, process flow and process control/operation. Along the automated insurance telematics value chain, there are many technologies offering individual elements, however, it is an object of the present invention to provide a holistic technical solution that covers the whole range from device installation and data capturing to the automated and accurate risk measurement, analysis and management. Finally, it is a further object of the invention to provide a dynamic, expert scoring system based on real-time scoring and measurements, and further to provide a technically scalable solution based on scoring algorithms and data processing, allowing to adapt and compare the signaling to other fields of automated risk-transfer.

“According to the present invention, these objects are achieved, particularly, with the features of the independent claims. In addition, further advantageous embodiments can be derived from the dependent claims and the related descriptions.”

There is additional summary information. Please visit full patent to read further.

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A telematics-based system triggering score-driven operations associated with a plurality of motor vehicles, the telematics-based system comprising: a plurality of on-board sensors in the motor vehicles, the on-board sensors configured to collect operational telematics data of the motor vehicles, and relay the collected operational telematics data to a plurality of telematics devices, the on-board sensors including at least a gyro sensor, an accelerometer sensor including a cantilever beam with a seismic mass, and a magnetoresistive permalloy sensor, the telematics devices being connected via a data transmission network to a central circuit of the telematics-based system, wherein a data link is set by a wireless connection between the telematics devices and the central circuit, at least the collected operational telematics data captured by the telematics devices being transmitted to the central circuit via the data transmission network; and the central circuit configured to: generate a compound set of parameters based upon the captured operational telematics data, the compound set of parameters at least including (i) a first number based on at least number of intersections, (ii) a second number based on at least activated advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS)/adaptive features of the motor vehicles, and (iii) a third number based on at least lending period and number of passengers, and (iv) a fourth number based on the angle of the sun, score individual drivers based on the monitored operational telematics data, the compound set of parameters further including measured and generated variable scoring parameters profiling use and style and environmental condition of driving during operation of the motor vehicle based upon the triggered, captured, and monitored operational telematics data, and the variable scoring parameters at least include a measured driver score measuring behavioral parameters of a driver, and a contextual score being based at least on the number of intersections and/or road type, and a vehicle safety score being based at least on the activated ADAS/adaptive features of the motor vehicle, and a mobility score being based at least on the lending period and number of passengers, and a trust-worthiness score being based at least on a measured care of assets score, a peer-to-peer lending score, a car sharing score, a transportation services risk score, and a vehicle type score, the compound set of parameters being at least based upon (i) a first measure of driver behavior parameters having speed, acceleration, braking, cornering, or jerking, (ii) a second measure of distraction parameters having a mobile phone usage while driving, (iii) a third measure of fatigue parameters, alcohol use parameters, or drug use parameters, (iv) measured trip score parameters based on a road type, a number of tunnels, or a number of elevations, (v) measured time of travel parameters, (vi) measured weather parameters, (vii) measured location parameters, and (viii) measured distance driven parameters, transmit a request to at least one of first transfer systems decentrally connected to the central circuit over the data transmission network, the request including at least the compound set of parameters generated based upon the captured operational telematics data, and dynamically collect the compound set of parameters, and generate profiles for a corresponding motor vehicle based upon the dynamically collected compound set of parameters, wherein in response to the transmitted request, the profiles are transmitted from the at least one of first transfer systems to a user circuit associated with the corresponding motor vehicle, upon selection of one of the profiles by a user, the selected profile is automatically transferred from the corresponding motor vehicle to the at least one of first transfer systems, wherein at least one profile, which is transmitted from the at least one of first transfer systems to the motor vehicles, is displayed on a dashboard touchscreen of the corresponding motor vehicle for selection by the user of the corresponding motor vehicle, and in return of displaying the at least one profile over the user circuit, transfer parameters are transmitted from the at least one of first transfer systems to a provider of the telematics-based system, and wherein the at least one profile, which is transmitted from the at least one of first transfer systems to the corresponding motor vehicle, is issued by a connected mobile telecommunication node application via the user circuit of the corresponding motor vehicle, wherein the profiles are selectable by the user by the mobile telecommunication node application, and upon selection of the at least one profile, a transfer associated with the selected profile is automatically performed from the corresponding motor vehicle to the at least one of first transfer systems, and wherein the profiles of the first transfer systems are only issued by the user circuit of the corresponding motor vehicle for selection by the user of the corresponding motor vehicle when an issuance is permitted by the telematics-based system.

“2. The telematics-based system according to claim 1, wherein the telematics devices comprising one or more wireless connections or wired connections and a plurality of interfaces to connect with at least one of the motor vehicles’ data transmission bus, and a plurality of interfaces to connect with the plurality of on-board sensors, wherein, for providing the wireless connection, the telematics devices act as wireless nodes within the data transmission network by antenna connections of the telematics devices and the telematics devices are connected via the interfaces to the plurality of on-board sensors and an in-car interactive device.

“3. The telematics-based system according to claim 2, wherein the plurality of on-board sensors and the in-car interactive device include proprioceptive sensors for sensing operating parameters of the motor vehicles and exteroceptive sensors for sensing environmental parameters during operations of the motor vehicles.

“4. The telematics-based system according to claim 1, further comprising: a second transfer system associated with the central circuit, the second transfer system configured to provide a second transfer based on second transfer parameters from the first transfer systems to the second transfer system, receive, and store second parameters for pooling of risks of the first transfer systems associated with risk exposures transferred to the first transfer systems.

“5. The telematics-based system according to claim 1, wherein the compound set of parameters further include the driving score, a pricing score, a usage and operation of ADAS score, a usage and operation of autonomous vehicle systems score, and a credit score.

“6. The telematics-based system according to claim 1, wherein the request further comprises risk-relevant parameters based upon the captured operational telematics data.

“7. The telematics-based system according to claim 1, wherein the request is transmitted to a corresponding first transfer system when transmission of the request is permitted by the user circuit.

“8. The telematics-based system according to claim 1, wherein the transmission of the request to a specific first transfer system depends on a definable distribution table included in the user circuit, the definable distribution table having a variable list with at least one first transfer system.

“9. The telematics-based system according to claim 1, wherein the compound set of parameters are at least based upon measured ADAS feature activation parameters, measured vehicle crash test rating parameters, measured level of automation parameters of the corresponding motor vehicle, and measured software risk scores parameters.

“10. The telematics-based system according to claim 1, wherein the profiles provided by the first transfer systems time-dependently vary based on the compound set of parameters measuring time-dependent use, the style, and the environmental condition of the driving during operation of the corresponding motor vehicle.

“11. The telematics-based system according to claim 1, wherein the first transfer systems are realized as automated first transfer systems to provide a first transfer based on first transfer parameters from the motor vehicles to a respective first transfer system configured to receive and store first parameters associated with transfer of risk exposures of the motor vehicles for pooling of the motor vehicles’ risks.

“12. The telematics-based system according to claim 6, wherein the risk-relevant parameters of the request comprise at least parts of the set compound of parameters and at least parts of the operating telematics data captured by vehicle embedded telematics devices or a mobile phone application as the user circuit.

“13. The telematics-based system according to claim 2, wherein the one or more wireless connections or wired connections of vehicle embedded telematics devices are using a radio band from 2.4 to 2.485 GHz by building a personal area networks with on-board wireless capabilities.”

For additional information on this patent, see: Bongers, Sebastiaan. Automated, telematics-based system with score-driven triggering and operation of automated sharing economy risk-transfer systems and corresponding method thereof. U.S. Patent Number 11580474, filed March 2, 2017, and published online on February 14, 2023. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(11580474)&db=USPAT&type=ids

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