Patent Issued for Driving cues and coaching (USPTO 11597389): Allstate Insurance Company

2023 MAR 28 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- A patent by the inventors Gibson, Timothy W. (Barrington, IL, US), Kumar, Surender (Palatine, IL, US), Madigan, Regina (Mountain View, CA, US), Polisson, William (Vernon Hills, IL, US), Slusar, Mark (Chicago, IL, US), filed on May 1, 2020, was published online on March 7, 2023, according to news reporting originating from Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx correspondents.

Patent number 11597389 is assigned to Allstate Insurance Company (Northbrook, Illinois, United States).

The following quote was obtained by the news editors from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Every year, millions of teenagers obtain a provisional driver’s license or “learner’s permit” and begin to drive for the first time. Many other adults who already have driving experience with small vehicles learn to drive commercial-class vehicles such as tractor-trailers or buses, or move from another country or climate and must learn to drive under unfamiliar traffic laws or weather conditions. Some new drivers may be elderly or urban drivers who never previously needed to drive but need to learn in response to a move or other change in life circumstances.

“During the learning process, the driver may be accompanied by a parent or instructor in the passenger seat, instructing the driver, providing feedback, and warning about possible dangers. Traditional vehicles specialized for driver’s education may have an additional brake pedal installed for the front passenger to allow a driving instructor to brake the car to prevent a collision. However, any other intervention to transfer control from the driver to the instructor requires the driver to park the car and trade seats with the instructor.

“The risks of property damage or injury as a result of mistakes by drivers who are still learning can be mitigated by the use of autonomous navigation systems. Existing autonomous navigation systems automate parallel parking for drivers who might cause a collision if attempting to park between cars. Existing autonomous navigation systems also detect an unseen car in a blind spot and may take over control to prevent a lane change that would lead to a collision. However, existing autonomous systems do not react to a wide variety of other situations or dangers to which an autonomous navigation response might be preferable to continuing control by an inexperienced driver. Such systems also fail to incorporate educational components, inter alia, that might lead to the driver improving and better understanding the nature of a dangerous situation.”

In addition to the background information obtained for this patent, NewsRx journalists also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “The following presents a simplified summary in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the disclosure. The summary is not an extensive overview of the disclosure. It is neither intended to identify key or critical elements of the disclosure nor to delineate the scope of the disclosure. The following summary merely presents some concepts of the disclosure in a simplified form as a prelude to the description below.

“Aspects of the disclosure relate to methods, computer-readable media, and apparatuses for training inexperienced drivers in vehicles with autonomous navigation systems. Drivers may be trained to become accustomed to sudden takeover of autonomous navigation by the vehicle, and may also learn to drive a vehicle with less risk of injury or property damage if the autonomous vehicle has the capability to prevent the driver from operating the vehicle under unfamiliar circumstances or from causing a collision.

“Data regarding a driver’s past experience with vehicles and operating environments may be used to proactively warn the driver about a potential danger detected or predicted by the vehicle. If the danger is sufficiently great, or the driver sufficiently inexperienced, the vehicle may assume autonomous navigation until the danger has subsided. When the vehicle restores manual control to the driver, the vehicle may generate a debriefing message to inform the driver why autonomous navigation was activated, and if the need for autonomous navigation was avoidable, what steps would have been prudent.

“Data regarding a driver’s past experience with vehicles and the safety features thereof may be used to mitigate risk of injury or property damage by selectively activating safety features in a new vehicle which the driver has not previously driven. Alternatively, the driver may be advised or warned that safety and navigation features to which the driver is accustomed are not present in the vehicle, so that the driver may drive more defensively and not inadvertently cause a collision by relying on a feature not present.

“Data regarding a driver’s past experience with vehicles, safety features thereof, and operating environments may be used to determine a decreased or increased rental rate for a particular vehicle, whose safety features may mitigate driver risk which would otherwise exist, or whose lack of safety features may elevate driver risk for a driver that may be dependent on safety features from a previously-driven vehicle.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A method, comprising: determining, by an autonomous vehicle, an identity of a driver of the autonomous vehicle; receiving, by the autonomous vehicle and from a data store, a plurality of driver experience parameters associated with the driver; detecting, by one or more sensors of the autonomous vehicle, a driving condition presenting a risk of personal or property damage, wherein the driving condition comprises an increased risk represented by an inattentiveness of the driver to a current state of a surrounding of the autonomous vehicle; and based at least in part on the plurality of driver experience parameters and the driving condition, engaging autonomous navigation of the autonomous vehicle and ending control by the driver over the autonomous vehicle.

“2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: detecting that the driving condition has ended; and in response to the detecting that the driving condition has ended, deactivating the autonomous navigation and returning control over the autonomous vehicle to the driver.

“3. The method of claim 1, wherein the driving condition comprises precipitation outside the autonomous vehicle.

“4. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more sensors of the autonomous vehicle comprise an internal camera, and further comprising: tracking one or more of an eye movement of the driver or a head orientation of the driver; identifying, based on the tracking, a field of vision or direction in the surrounding of the autonomous vehicle; and determining, based on the identifying, that the driver is unlikely to be aware of changes in the identified field of vision or the identified direction.

“5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: detecting that the driver is manipulating a vehicle control of the autonomous vehicle, wherein the vehicle control is one of a radio tuner, or a volume control; and determining, based on the detecting, the inattentiveness of the driver.

“6. The method of claim 1, further comprising: updating one or more of the plurality of driver experience parameters; and transmitting the one or more of the plurality of driver experience parameters to the data store.

“7. The method of claim 1, further comprising informing the driver of a reason for engaging autonomous navigation of the autonomous vehicle after a determination is made to engage autonomous navigation.

“8. The method of claim 1, further comprising: detecting that the driver is using a mobile device; and determining, based on the detecting, the inattentiveness of the driver.

“9. The method of claim 8, further comprising: receiving, from an application installed in the mobile device, an indication that the driver is using the mobile device.

“10. The method of claim 1, further comprising: detecting audio content being played by a speaker of the autonomous vehicle; and determining, based on the detecting, the inattentiveness of the driver.

“11. The method of claim 10, further comprising: detecting an audio level of the audio content being played by the speaker of the autonomous vehicle; and determining, based on the audio level, that the driver is unlikely to hear an indication of a potential danger outside the autonomous vehicle.

“12. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining the inattentiveness of the driver based on one or more of: (1) a failure by the driver to match a speed of traffic, (2) erratic braking by the driver, (3) erratic acceleration by the driver, (4) failure by the driver to respond to a green traffic light, (5) delayed reaction by the driver to a red or a yellow traffic light, and (6) erratic or swerving motion within a traffic lane.

“13. The method of claim 1, further comprising: tracking an eye movement of the driver or an eye closure of the driver; and determining that the driver is asleep or is losing consciousness.

“14. A non-transitory medium comprising instructions that, when performed by a processor of an autonomous vehicle, cause the autonomous vehicle to: determine an identity of a driver of the autonomous vehicle; receive, from a data store, a plurality of driver experience parameters associated with the driver; detect, using sensor data received from one or more sensors of the autonomous vehicle, a driving condition presenting a risk of personal or property damage, wherein the driving condition comprises an increased risk represented by an inattentiveness of the driver to a current state of a surrounding of the autonomous vehicle; and based at least in part on the plurality of driver experience parameters and the driving condition, engage autonomous navigation of the autonomous vehicle and end control by the driver over the autonomous vehicle.

“15. The non-transitory medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions, when performed, further cause the autonomous vehicle to: detect that the driving condition has ended; and in response to the detecting that the driving condition has ended, deactivate the autonomous navigation and return control over the autonomous vehicle to the driver.

“16. The non-transitory medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions, when performed, further cause the autonomous vehicle to: update one or more of the plurality of driver experience parameters; and transmit the one or more of the plurality of driver experience parameters to the data store.

“17. The non-transitory medium of claim 14, wherein the driving condition comprises precipitation outside the autonomous vehicle.

“18. The non-transitory medium of claim 14, wherein the one or more sensors of the autonomous vehicle comprise an internal camera, and wherein the instructions, when performed, further cause the autonomous vehicle to: track one or more of an eye movement of the driver or a head orientation of the driver; identify, based on the tracking, a field of vision or direction in the surrounding of the autonomous vehicle; and determine, based on the identifying, that the driver is unlikely to be aware of changes in the identified field of vision or the identified direction.

“19. The non-transitory medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions, when performed, further cause the autonomous vehicle to: detect that the driver is manipulating a vehicle control of the autonomous vehicle, wherein the vehicle control is one of a radio tuner, or a volume control; and determine, based on the detecting, the inattentiveness of the driver.

“20. The non-transitory medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions, when performed, further cause the autonomous vehicle to inform the driver of a reason for engaging autonomous navigation of the autonomous vehicle after a determination is made to engage autonomous navigation.

“21. The non-transitory medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions, when performed, further cause the autonomous vehicle to: detect that the driver is using a mobile device; and determine, based on the detecting, the inattentiveness of the driver.

“22. The non-transitory medium of claim 21, wherein the instructions, when performed, further cause the autonomous vehicle to: receive, from an application installed in the mobile device, an indication that the driver is using the mobile device.

“23. The non-transitory medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions, when performed, further cause the autonomous vehicle to: detect audio content being played by a speaker of the autonomous vehicle; and determine, based on the detecting, the inattentiveness of the driver.

“24. The non-transitory medium of claim 23, wherein the instructions, when performed, further cause the autonomous vehicle to: detect an audio level of the audio content being played by the speaker of the autonomous vehicle; and determine, based on the audio level, that the driver is unlikely to hear an indication of a potential danger outside the autonomous vehicle.

“25. The non-transitory medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions, when performed, further cause the autonomous vehicle to: determine the inattentiveness of the driver based on one or more of: (1) a failure by the driver to match a speed of traffic, (2) erratic braking by the driver, (3) erratic acceleration by the driver, (4) failure by the driver to respond to a green traffic light, (5) delayed reaction by the driver to a red or a yellow traffic light, and (6) erratic or swerving motion within a traffic lane.

“26. The non-transitory medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions, when performed, further cause the autonomous vehicle to: track an eye movement of the driver or an eye closure of the driver; and determine that the driver is asleep or is losing consciousness.

“27. An autonomous vehicle, comprising: a steering wheel; a brake pedal; an acceleration pedal; a computer memory storing driver experience parameters; a processor programmed to navigate the autonomous vehicle by controlling a speed and direction of the autonomous vehicle; and a non-transitory medium storing instructions that, when performed by the processor, cause the autonomous vehicle to perform steps comprising: determining, by the autonomous vehicle, an identity of a driver of the autonomous vehicle; receiving, by the autonomous vehicle and from the computer memory, a plurality of driver experience parameters associated with the driver; detecting, by one or more sensors of the autonomous vehicle, a driving condition presenting a risk of personal or property damage, wherein the driving condition comprises an increased risk represented by an inattentiveness of the driver to a current state of a surrounding of the autonomous vehicle; and switching from a manual driving mode, in which the autonomous vehicle is controlled by the steering wheel, the brake pedal, and the acceleration pedal, to an autonomous driving mode based at least in part on the plurality of driver experience parameters and the driving condition.”

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

URL and more information on this patent, see: Gibson, Timothy W. Driving cues and coaching. U.S. Patent Number 11597389, filed May 1, 2020, and published online on March 7, 2023. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(11597389)&db=USPAT&type=ids

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