Patent Issued for Autonomous vehicle control assessment and selection (USPTO 11500377): State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company

2022 DEC 06 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- A patent by the inventors Bennett, Shawn C. (Le Roy, IL, US), Binion, Todd (Bloomington, IL, US), Bryant, Ronny S. (Bloomington, IL, US), Chan, Aaron Scott (San Jose, CA, US), Cielocha, Steven (Bloomington, IL, US), Csanda, Carol Marie (Hudson, IL, US), Fields, Brian Mark (Phoenix, AZ, US), Gorsuch, Stacey (Bloomington, IL, US), Huang, Chien Che (Normal, IL, US), Kohaus, Stephen (Bloomington, IL, US), Main, Craig M. (Allen, TX, US), Novak, Richard A. (Plano, TX, US), Quakenbush, Terry (Bloomington, IL, US), Wazeer, Mohamed A. (Normal, IL, US), Wollenschlager, Torri (Bloomington, IL, US), Wu, Weixin (Normal, IL, US), filed on January 23, 2020, was published online on November 15, 2022, according to news reporting originating from Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx correspondents.

Patent number 11500377 is assigned to State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (Bloomington, Illinois, United States).

The following quote was obtained by the news editors from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Vehicles are typically operated by a human vehicle operator who controls both steering and motive controls. Operator error, inattention, inexperience, misuse, or distraction leads to many vehicle accidents each year, resulting in injury and damage. Autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicles augment vehicle operators’ information or replace vehicle operators’ control commands to operate the vehicle in whole or part with computer systems based upon information from sensors within the vehicle.

“Vehicle or automobile insurance exists to provide financial protection against physical damage and/or bodily injury resulting from traffic accidents and against liability that could arise therefrom. Typically, a customer purchases a vehicle insurance policy for a policy rate having a specified term. In exchange for payments from the insured customer, the insurer pays for damages to the insured which are caused by covered perils, acts, or events as specified by the language of the insurance policy. The payments from the insured are generally referred to as “premiums,” and typically are paid on behalf of the insured over time at periodic intervals. An insurance policy may remain “in-force” while premium payments are made during the term or length of coverage of the policy as indicated in the policy. An insurance policy may “lapse” (or have a status or state of “lapsed”), for example, when premium payments are not being paid or if the insured or the insurer cancels the policy.

“Premiums may be typically determined based upon a selected level of insurance coverage, location of vehicle operation, vehicle model, and characteristics or demographics of the vehicle operator. The characteristics of a vehicle operator that affect premiums may include age, years operating vehicles of the same class, prior incidents involving vehicle operation, and losses reported by the vehicle operator to the insurer or a previous insurer. Past and current premium determination methods do not, however, account for use of autonomous vehicle operating features. The present embodiments may, inter alia, alleviate this and/or other drawbacks associated with conventional techniques.”

In addition to the background information obtained for this patent, NewsRx journalists also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “The present embodiments may be related to autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle functionality, including driverless operation, accident avoidance, or collision warning systems. These autonomous vehicle operation features may either assist the vehicle operator to more safely or efficiently operate a vehicle or may take full control of vehicle operation under some or all circumstances. The present embodiments may also facilitate risk assessment and premium determination for vehicle insurance policies covering vehicles with autonomous operation features. For instance, a consumer may opt-in to a rewards program that rewards them, such as in the form of insurance discounts, for affirmatively sharing data related to their vehicles and/or autonomous features with an insurance provider.

“In accordance with the described embodiments, the disclosure herein generally addresses systems and methods for determining to transfer operation of an autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle between autonomous operation features and a vehicle operator. A computer (such as an on-board computer, mobile device, or server communicatively connected to the vehicle) associated with the vehicle may (1) determine an identity of a vehicle operator; (2) receive a vehicle operator profile associated with the vehicle operator; (3) receive operating data regarding one or more autonomous operation features of the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle; (4) determine one or more autonomous operation risk levels associated with operation of the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle by the one or more autonomous operation features based upon (i) received operating data, and/or (ii) driving behavior settings for the vehicle operator that are pre-determined and/or stored in the vehicle operator profile; (5) determine one or more operator risk levels associated with operation of the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle by the vehicle operator based upon the received vehicle operating data and/or vehicle operator profile (such as by comparing the vehicle operating data and/or current environment conditions) with the vehicle operator profile); (6) determine to engage or disengage at least one of the one or more autonomous operation features based upon the determine one or more autonomous operation risk levels and the one or more operator risk levels; and/or (7) present an alert to the vehicle operator regarding engagement or disengagement of the at least one of the one or more autonomous operation features.

“Determining to disengage the at least one of the one or more autonomous operation features may include determining that the one or more autonomous operation risk levels associated with operation of the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle by the at least one of the one or more autonomous operation features exceed the corresponding one or more operator risk levels associated with the same control functions of the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle as the at least one of the one or more autonomous operation features, such that manual operation may be safer than autonomous operation under the conditions. Determining to engage the at least one of the one or more autonomous operation features may include determining that the one or more operator risk levels associated with operation of the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle by the vehicle operator exceed the corresponding one or more autonomous operation risk levels at least one of the one or more autonomous operation features associated with the same control functions of the autonomous operation features of the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle, such that autonomous operation may be safer than manual operation under the conditions. As a result, the vehicle control system may allow the safer driver-either the autonomous vehicle or human driver/passenger/occupant-to remain or gain control of the vehicle.

“The operating data may include data from one or more sensors disposed within the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle, which may include data regarding the vehicle environment, such as weather, traffic, and/or construction. In some embodiments, the computer may receive autonomous communication data from one or more external sources, which may also be used to determine whether to disengage at least one of the one or more autonomous operation features.

“In some embodiments, the computer may further determine a preparedness level of the vehicle operator to assume control of one or more functions of operating the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle controlled by the at least one of the one or more autonomous operation features, which preparedness level may be used to determine whether to disengage at least one of the one or more autonomous operation features. When the preparedness level of the vehicle operator is below a transfer threshold, the computer may cause at least one of the one or more autonomous operation features not to disengage during operation of the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle. When the preparedness level is below the transfer threshold and above a minimum threshold, the alert may be presented to the vehicle operator and/or the preparedness level determined again after presentation of the alert. When the preparedness level is below a minimum threshold, the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle may discontinue operation. The computer may also cause the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle to discontinue operation when the autonomous operation risk levels exceed a critical risk threshold and the preparedness level is below a transfer threshold.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A computer-implemented method for operating an autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle, comprising, during operation of the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle: receiving, by one or more processors, operating data regarding one or more autonomous operation features operating the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle, wherein the operating data includes data regarding a current operating environment of the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle; receiving, at one or more processors, a request to disable at least one of the one or more autonomous operation features; determining, by one or more processors, one or more autonomous operation risk levels associated with current operation of the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle in the current operating environment by the one or more autonomous operation features; determining, by one or more processors, one or more operator risk levels associated with operation of the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle in the current operating environment by the vehicle operator based upon (i) the received operating data, and (ii) driving behavior settings for the vehicle operator, wherein the driving behavior settings include information that is pre-determined and/or stored in a vehicle operator profile; calculating, by one or more processors, one or more relative risk levels by comparing the one or more autonomous operation risk levels against the one or more operator risk levels; and determining, by one or more processors, whether to disable the at least one of the one or more autonomous operation features based upon the one or more relative risk levels, including determining not to disable the at least one of the one or more autonomous operation features.

“2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, by one or more processors, autonomous communication data from one or more external sources, wherein determining whether to disable the at least one of the one or more autonomous operation features is further based upon the received autonomous communication data.

“3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: causing, by one or more processors, an option to override the determination not to disable the at least one of the one or more autonomous operation features to be presented to the vehicle operator; receiving, at one or more processors, a selection of the option to override the determination not to disable the at least one of the one or more autonomous operation features; and causing, by one or more processors, the at least one of the one or more autonomous operation features to be disabled.

“4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: causing, by one or more processors, an option to override the determination not to disable the at least one of the one or more autonomous operation features to be presented to the vehicle operator; receiving, at one or more processors, a selection of the option to override the determination not to disable the at least one of the one or more autonomous operation features; determining, by one or more processors, one or more risk levels associated with disabling the at least one of the one or more autonomous operation features; and causing, by one or more processors, the at least one of the one or more autonomous operation features to be disabled only if the determined one or more risk levels associated with disabling the at least one of the one or more autonomous operation features are below a critical threshold.

“5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: causing, by one or more processors, an option to override the determination not to disable the at least one of the one or more autonomous operation features to be presented to the vehicle operator; receiving, at one or more processors, a selection of the option to override the determination not to disable the at least one of the one or more autonomous operation features; and adjusting, by one or more processors, one or more costs associated with an insurance policy associated with the vehicle operator based upon the selection of the option to override the determination not to disable the at least one of the one or more autonomous operation features.

“6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the one or more costs associated with the insurance policy associated with the vehicle operator is further based upon the determined one or more autonomous operation risk levels and the determined one or more operator risk levels.

“7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: determining, by one or more processors, a preparedness level of the vehicle operator to assume control of one or more functions of operating the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle controlled by the at least one of the one or more autonomous operation features, wherein determining whether to disable the at least one of the one or more autonomous operation features further based upon the determined preparedness level of the vehicle operator.

“8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising adjusting, by one or more processors, one or more insurance policies based upon the determined one or more autonomous operation risk levels and the determined one or more operator risk levels, wherein the one or more insurance policies include at least one of: a vehicle insurance policy, a life insurance policy, home insurance policy, a rental insurance policy, a condominium insurance policy, a disability insurance policy, a business insurance policy, a health insurance policy, or a liability insurance policy.

“9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the operating data includes data regarding the vehicle environment, including one or more of the following: traffic conditions, construction, road integrity, type of road, geographical location, time of day, precipitation, visibility, light levels, wind, or other weather conditions.

“10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: determining, by one or more processors, an identity of a vehicle operator; and receiving, at one or more processors, the vehicle operator profile associated with the vehicle operator, wherein a default vehicle operator profile is received as the vehicle operator profile when the vehicle operator cannot be identified as a known vehicle operator.

“11. A computer system for operating an autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle, comprising: one or more processors; one or more sensors disposed within the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle and communicatively connected to the one or more processors; and a 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, during operation of the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle: receive operating data regarding one or more autonomous operation features operating the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle, wherein the operating data includes data regarding a current operating environment of the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle; receive a request to disable at least one of the one or more autonomous operation features; determine one or more autonomous operation risk levels associated with current operation of the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle in the current operating environment by the one or more autonomous operation features; determine one or more operator risk levels associated with operation of the autonomous or semi-autonomous in the current operating environment vehicle by the vehicle operator based upon (i) the received operating data, and (ii) driving behavior settings for the vehicle operator, wherein the driving behavior settings include information that is pre-determined and/or stored in a vehicle operator profile; calculate one or more relative risk levels by comparing the one or more autonomous operation risk levels against the one or more operator risk levels; and determine whether to disable the at least one of the one or more autonomous operation features based upon the one or more relative risk levels, including determining not to disable the at least one of the one or more autonomous operation features.

“12. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the program memory further includes executable instructions that cause the computer system, when the computer system determines not to disable the at least one of the one or more autonomous operation features, to: cause an option to override the determination not to disable the at least one of the one or more autonomous operation features to be presented to the vehicle operator; receive a selection of the option to override the determination not to disable the at least one of the one or more autonomous operation features; and cause the at least one of the one or more autonomous operation features to be disabled.

“13. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the program memory further includes executable instructions that cause the computer system, when the computer system determines not to disable the at least one of the one or more autonomous operation features, to: cause an option to override the determination not to disable the at least one of the one or more autonomous operation features to be presented to the vehicle operator; receive a selection of the option to override the determination not to disable the at least one of the one or more autonomous operation features; determine one or more risk levels associated with disabling the at least one of the one or more autonomous operation features; and cause the at least one of the one or more autonomous operation features to be disabled only if the determined one or more risk levels associated with disabling the at least one of the one or more autonomous operation features are below a critical threshold.”

There are additional claims. Please visit full patent to read further.

URL and more information on this patent, see: Bennett, Shawn C. Autonomous vehicle control assessment and selection. U.S. Patent Number 11500377, filed January 23, 2020, and published online on November 15, 2022.

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