Patent Issued for Road segment safety rating system (USPTO 11847667): Allstate Insurance Company
2024 JAN 05 (NewsRx) -- By a
Patent number 11847667 is assigned to
The following quote was obtained by the news editors from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Although insurers may vary insurance premiums based on garaging location (by state, county, etc.), there is a need in the art for enhanced systems and methods to better account for variations in a location-based risk to vehicles and subsequently acting accordingly. For example, some insurers use location-based technology such as GPS (global positioning satellites) to monitor the location of vehicles. Nevertheless, there is a need in the art for a technique for estimating the risk associated with a route using the various aspects disclosed by the present disclosure.
“Often, when operating a vehicle, drivers do not consider safety of a road or route they are taking when making decisions on how to arrive at a destination. Rather, drivers often rely on criteria such as fastest route, shortest distance, etc. to plan a route to a destination. Because the amount of data needed to determine a safety rating for a road can be tremendous, it is often not practical for individuals to evaluate the safety of each road, particularly for unfamiliar roads. However, access to this information could be advantageous. Therefore, there is a benefit in the art for an enhanced method and device for calculating a risk for a road segment and using it to, among other things, mitigate risk.”
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, systems and apparatuses for determining a road segment safety rating. In some arrangements, the road segment safety rating may be based on historical data associated with the road segment (e.g., accident history data, traffic volume data, etc.). In other examples, the road segment safety rating may be based on historical data as well as driving behavior data of the operator of the vehicle. For instance, driving behaviors of the user may be determined based on, for instance, sensor data received from the vehicle. This driving behavior data may be used with the historical data to determine a road segment safety rating that is particular or unique to the driver or user. In some examples, the road segment safety rating may be based on external or environmental factors, such as weather, current traffic, accidents, etc. that may impact the real-time risk associated with a road segment. Various combinations of these factors may also be used to determine a road segment safety rating.
“In some examples, the determined road segment safety rating may be compared to a threshold. If the road segment safety rating is below the threshold, the system may generate one or more alternate road segments or route for the driver to consider. In some examples, the road segment safety rating may be used to determine an insurance premium or one or more insurance incentives to provide to the user.
“In some cases, the road segment safety rating may be determined for a plurality of road segments between the first location and the second location based on historical data associated with the road segments (e.g., accident history data, traffic volume data, etc.) and/or based on driving behavior data of the operator of the vehicle. An indication of the road segment determined as being the safest may be provided to the operator of the vehicle. An actual route of travel of the vehicle can be captured and compared to the safest route. If the vehicle has traveled the safest route, the operator may earn an award. If not, the operator may be notified that an award may be earned when an indicated safest route is traveled.
“Other features and advantages of the disclosure will be apparent from the additional description provided herein.”
The claims supplied by the inventors are:
“1. A mobile device comprising: at least one processor; and memory storing computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the mobile device to: receive information identifying a first location located along a road segment being traveled by a vehicle; while the vehicle is traveling on the road segment: determine a plurality of road segments located between the first location and a current location of the vehicle, wherein the plurality of road segments comprise a first series of road segments and a second series of road segments, wherein the first series of road segments correspond to a first route between the current location and the first location, and the second series of road segments correspond to a second route between the current location and the first location, wherein the second route is different from the first route; receive from at least one sensor, driving data associated with operation of the vehicle; analyze the driving data to determine at least one driving behavior of an operator of the vehicle; determine, based on the at least one driving behavior of the operator of the vehicle and a direction of travel of the vehicle through each road segment of the plurality of road segments, a safety rating for each road segment of the plurality of road segments; determine, based on the safety rating for each road segment of the plurality of road segments, a safest route between the current location and the first location; and output, via a display screen located in the vehicle, an indication of the determined safest route; and output, via the display screen and based on determining that the vehicle is beginning to travel along a route different from the determined the safest route, a notification that the vehicle is traveling along a route different from the determined safest route.
“2. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the driving data associated with the operation of the vehicle comprises one or more of: speed data, acceleration data, braking data, or turning data.
“3. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the at least one driving behavior of the operator of the vehicle comprises one or more of: a speed limit observation behavior of the operator of the vehicle, a speed relative to other drivers behavior of the operator of the vehicle, a braking distance behavior of the operator of the vehicle, or a following distance behavior of the operator of the vehicle.
“4. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the memory stores additional computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the mobile device to: transmit, to a remote server, information indicating the at least one driving behavior of the operator of the vehicle.
“5. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the memory stores additional computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the mobile device to: transmit, to a remote server, location information identifying the plurality of road segments; receive, from the remote server, historical accident data associated with the plurality of road segments; and determine the safety rating for each road segment, of the plurality of road segments, further based on the historical accident data.
“6. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the memory stores additional computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the mobile device to: transmit, to a remote server, location information identifying the plurality of road segments; receive, from the remote server, traffic volume data associated with the plurality of road segments; and determine the safety rating for each road segment, of the plurality of road segments, further based on the traffic volume data.
“7. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the memory stores additional computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the mobile device to: based on determining that the route that the vehicle is beginning to travel along is the determined safest route: store the route that the vehicle is beginning to travel along; and cause an award to be provided to the operator of the vehicle.
“8. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the memory stores additional computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the mobile device to: based on determining that the route that the vehicle is beginning to travel along is not the determined safest route, output a notification that an award may be earned when the vehicle travels along the determined safest route.
“9. The mobile device of claim 8, wherein the memory stores additional computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the mobile device to: receive, from a remote server and upon confirmation that the vehicle traveled along the determined safest route, data identifying the award; and output, via the display screen, information identifying the award.
“10. A method comprising: receiving, by a computing device, information identifying a first location located along a road segment being traveled by a vehicle; while the vehicle is traveling on the road segment: determining a plurality of road segments located between the first location and a current location of the vehicle, wherein the plurality of road segments comprise a first series of road segments and a second series of road segments, wherein the first series of road segments correspond to a first route between the current location and the first location, and the second series of road segments correspond to a second route between the current location and the first location, wherein the second route is different from the first route; receiving from at least one sensor, driving data associated with operation of the vehicle; analyzing the driving data to determine at least one driving behavior of an operator of the vehicle; determining, based on the at least one driving behavior of the operator of the vehicle and a direction of travel of the vehicle through each road segment of the plurality of road segments, a safety rating for each road segment of the plurality of road segments; determining, based on the safety rating for each road segment of the plurality of road segments, a safest route between the current location and the first location; and outputting, via a display screen located in the vehicle, an indication of the determined safest route; and outputting, via the display screen and based on determining that the vehicle is beginning to travel along a route different from the determined the safest route, a notification that the vehicle is traveling along a route different from the determined safest route.
“11. The method of claim 10, further comprising: transmitting, to a remote server, information identifying the at least one driving behavior of the operator of the vehicle.
“12. The method of claim 10, further comprising: transmitting, to a remote server, location information identifying the plurality of road segments; receiving, from the remote server, historical accident data associated with the plurality of road segments; and determining the safety rating for each road segment, of the plurality of road segments, further based on the historical accident data.
“13. The method of claim 10, further comprising: transmitting, to a remote server, location information identifying the plurality of road segments; receiving, from the remote server, traffic volume data associated with the plurality of road segments; and determining the safety rating for each road segment, of the plurality of road segments, further based on the traffic volume data.
“14. The method of claim 10, further comprising: based on determining that the route that the vehicle is beginning to travel along is the determined safest route: storing the route that the vehicle is beginning to travel along; and causing an award to be provided to the operator of the vehicle.
“15. The method of claim 10, further comprising: based on determining that the route that the vehicle is beginning to travel along is not the determined safest route, outputting a notification that an award may be earned when the vehicle travels along the determined safest route.
“16. The method of claim 15, further comprising: receiving, from a remote server and upon confirmation that the vehicle traveled along the determined safest route, data identifying the award; and outputting, via the display screen, information identifying the award.”
There are additional claims. Please visit full patent to read further.
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