Patent Issued for Incentivizing and/or penalizing vehicle renters based on telematics data (USPTO 11257146): State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company

2022 MAR 10 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (Bloomington, Illinois, United States) has been issued patent number 11257146, according to news reporting originating out of Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx editors.

The patent’s inventors are Brannan, Joseph Robert (Bloomington, IL, US), Gross, Ryan (Normal, IL, US), Harvey, Brian N. (Bloomington, IL, US), Riley, Sr., Matthew Eric (Heyworth, IL, US), Wilson, J. Lynn (Normal, IL, US).

This patent was filed on February 4, 2019 and was published online on February 22, 2022.

From the background information supplied by the inventors, news correspondents obtained the following quote: “Current technologies make use of vehicle telematics data to assess driving behavior. For example, the telematics data may be collected and analyzed to determine the acceleration, braking and/or cornering habits of a driver of a vehicle, and the results of the analysis may be used to measure the performance of the driver over time. The telematics data may be generated by sensors on the vehicle, or by a personal electronic device (e.g., smart phone) carried by the driver, for example. The measured performance may then be used for various purposes, such as modifying an insurance rating of the driver. More recently, it has been proposed that telematics data also be used in connection with car rental services, including peer-to-peer car rentals, to score potential renters (e.g., so that vehicle owners may avoid renting their vehicles to certain types of drivers).

“Typically, car rental services utilize terms of a rental agreement to constrain renter use of the rented vehicle. However, such terms are not able to constrain or limit many driving behaviors of a renter while the renter is operating a vehicle. This may occur because car rental services are not able to detect such driving behaviors, and as a result the car rental services cannot incorporate such driving behaviors into a rental agreement. Thus, car rental services may rely on the vehicle owner trusting the renter to not misuse the rented vehicle. However, vehicle owners may hesitate to trust renters they do not personally know. Unconstrained use of the rented vehicle on the part of the renter may result in increased maintenance and the associated costs and time for the vehicle owner. For example, frequent hard braking by renters may require that the owner replace the brake pads and rotors more often. This is especially problematic for vehicle owners in peer-to-peer vehicle rental services. For these vehicle owners, the rented vehicle may be their primary vehicle, and associated costs and times of maintenance may be unmanageable.

“For these reasons, there is a need for systems and methods that mitigate the problems of vehicle owner hesitation with respect to renting a vehicle and facilitate the rental of more vehicles for the vehicle renters with less risk to the vehicle owners.”

Supplementing the background information on this patent, NewsRx reporters also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “The present embodiments may, inter alia, utilize telematics data indicative of operation of a rented vehicle by the driver/renter during a period of time to apply one or more penalties and/or incentives to the driver, as agreed upon in the terms for renting the vehicle from the owner. In this way, the embodiments may establish trust between the owner of the vehicle and renter (or at least, provide the owner with a certain comfort level even if the renter cannot be fully trusted) by detecting and incentivizing or penalizing driving behaviors.

“In one aspect, a method of incentivizing and/or penalizing vehicle renters may include receiving, at one or more processors, an indication that a driver has agreed to terms for renting a vehicle from an owner of the vehicle. The terms may include potential application of penalties or incentives to the driver based on driving behavior. The method may also include receiving, at the one or more processors, telematics data collected over a period of time. The telematics data may be indicative of operation of the rented vehicle by the driver during the period of time. The method may also include identifying, by the one or more processors analyzing the telematics data, one or more driving behaviors of the driver during the period of time. The method may also include determining, by the one or more processors, and for each driving behavior of the one or more driving behaviors, a corresponding state of an environment of the rented vehicle when the driving behavior occurred. The method may also include causing, by the one or more processors, one or more penalties or incentives to be applied to the driver, based on the one or more driving behaviors and the corresponding states of the environment of the rented vehicle.

“In another aspect, a tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium may store instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to receive an indication that a driver has agreed to terms for renting a vehicle from an owner of the vehicle. The terms may include potential application of penalties or incentives to the driver based on driving behavior. The instructions may also cause the one or more processors to receive telematics data collected over a period of time. The telematics data may be indicative of operation of the rented vehicle by the driver during the period of time. The instructions may also cause the or more processors to identify one or more driving behaviors of the driver during the period of time. The instructions may also cause the one or more processors to determine for each driving behavior of the one or more driving behaviors, a corresponding state of an environment of the rented vehicle when the driving behavior occurred. The instructions may also cause the one or more processors to cause one or more penalties or incentives to be applied to the driver, based on the one or more driving behaviors and the corresponding states of the environment of the rented vehicle.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A computer-implemented method comprising: receiving, at one or more processors, an indication that a driver has agreed to terms for renting a vehicle from an owner of the vehicle, wherein the terms include potential application of penalties or incentives to the driver based on driving behavior; establishing a first communication link between the one or more processors and a mobile device disposed within the vehicle; receiving, at the one or more processors and via the first communication link, first telematics data collected, by the mobile device, during a period of time, wherein the first telematics data is characterized by one or more first data types, and is indicative of operation of the rented vehicle by the driver during the period of time; establishing a second communication link, separate from the first communication link, between the one or more processors and a processor of the vehicle; receiving, at the one or more processors and via the second communication link, second telematics data captured, by a sensor associated with the vehicle, during the period of time, wherein the second telematics data is characterized by one or more second data types; identifying, by the one or more processors and based on the first telematics data and the second telematics data, one or more driving behaviors of the driver during the period of time; determining, by the one or more processors, and for each driving behavior of the one or more driving behaviors, a corresponding state of an environment of the rented vehicle when the driving behavior occurred; determining, by the one or more processors and based on the state of the environment, one or more thresholds corresponding to the one or more first data types of the first telematics data and the one or more second data types of the second telematics data; and causing, by the one or more processors, one or more penalties or incentives to be applied to a digital account of the driver, based on a comparison between the first telematics data and the second telematics data, and the one or more thresholds.

“2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein determining the corresponding state of the environment includes determining the corresponding state of the environment based on at least one of the first telematics data or the second telematics data, and wherein the first data type of the first telematics data, received via the first communication link, is different from the second data type of the second telematics data received via the second communication link.

“3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein determining the corresponding state of the environment includes determining the corresponding state of the environment based on environment data received from a third party server.

“4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, further comprising: determining, by the one or more processors and based on the first telematics data or the second telematics data, and for each driving behavior of the one or more driving behaviors, one or more times associated with the driving behavior, wherein determining, for each driving behavior of the one or more driving behaviors, the corresponding state of the environment includes determining the corresponding state of the environment based on a portion of the environment data corresponding to the one or more times associated with the driving behavior.

“5. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, further comprising determining, by the one or more processors and based on the first telematics data or the second telematics data, and for each driving behavior of the one or more driving behaviors, one or more locations associated with the driving behavior, wherein determining, for each driving behavior of the one or more driving behaviors, the corresponding state of the environment includes determining the corresponding state of the environment based on a portion of the environment data corresponding to the one or more locations associated with the driving behavior.

“6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein identifying the one or more driving behaviors of the driver during the period of time includes determining one or more values of the first telematics data and the second telematics data corresponding to the one or more driving behaviors.

“7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein each of the one or more values is associated with one or more of: acceleration, speed, or lateral force.

“8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising causing, by the one or more processors, an electronic message to be transmitted to the owner, wherein the electronic message indicates that the one or more penalties or incentives have been applied.

“9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising causing, by the one or more processors, an electronic message to be transmitted to the driver, wherein the electronic message indicates that the one or more penalties or incentives have been applied.

“10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising determining, by the one or more processors and based on at least one of the first telematics data or the second telematics data, a time when the rented vehicle is stopped; and causing, by the one or more processors, an electronic message to be transmitted via at least one of the first communications link or the second communications link and during the time when the rented vehicle is stopped, wherein the electronic message indicates that the one or more penalties or incentives have been applied to the digital account.

“11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the period of time is one of: a duration of a trip of the rented vehicle or a duration of a rental period of the rented vehicle.

“12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more driver behaviors is associated with one or more of: turning behavior, braking behavior, or accelerating behavior.

“13. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the corresponding states of the environment of the rented vehicle is associated with one or more of: visibility conditions, weather conditions, traffic conditions, or road conditions.

“14. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: determining, by the one or more processors and based on the one or more driving behaviors and the corresponding states of the environment of the rented vehicle, a driving score associated with the driver and corresponding to the period of time, wherein causing the one or more penalties or incentives to be applied to the driver is based at least in part on the driving score.

“15. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more first data types or the one or more second data types comprises one of: acceleration, speed, or lateral force.

“16. A tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to: receive an indication that a driver has agreed to terms for renting a vehicle from an owner of the vehicle, wherein the terms include potential application of penalties or incentives to the driver based on driving behavior; establish a first communication link between the one or more processors and a mobile device disposed within the vehicle; receive, via the first communication link, first telematics data collected, by the mobile device, during a period of time, wherein the first telematics data is characterized by one or more first data types, and is indicative of operation of the rented vehicle by the driver during the period of time; establish a second communication link, separate from the first communication link, between the one or more processors and a processor of the vehicle; receive, via the second communication link, second telematics data captured, by a sensor associated with the vehicle, during the period of time, wherein the second telematics data is characterized by one or more second data types; identify, based on the first telematics data and the second telematics data, one or more driving behaviors of the driver during the period of time; determine for each driving behavior of the one or more driving behaviors, a corresponding state of an environment of the rented vehicle when the driving behavior occurred; determine, based on the state of the environment, one or more thresholds corresponding to the one or more first data types of the first telematics data and the one or more second data types of the second telematics data; and cause one or more penalties or incentives to be applied to a digital account of the driver, based on a comparison between the first telematics data and the second telematics data, and the one or more thresholds.

“17. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, further storing instructions that cause the one or more processors to: identify the one or more driving behaviors of the driver during the period of time by determining one or more values of the first telematics data or the second telematics data corresponding to the one or more driving behaviors.

“18. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, further storing instructions that cause the one or more processors to: cause an electronic message to be transmitted to the owner, wherein the electronic message indicates that the one or more penalties or incentives have been applied.

“19. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, further storing instructions that cause the one or more processors to: cause an electronic message to be transmitted to the driver, wherein the electronic message indicates that the one or more penalties or incentives have been applied.”

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

For the URL and additional information on this patent, see: Brannan, Joseph Robert. Incentivizing and/or penalizing vehicle renters based on telematics data. U.S. Patent Number 11257146, filed February 4, 2019, and published online on February 22, 2022. Patent URL: 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=11257146.PN.&OS=PN/11257146RS=PN/11257146

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