Patent Issued for Traffic Risk Avoidance For A Route Selection System (USPTO 10,247,565)
2019 APR 16 (NewsRx) -- By a
The assignee for this patent, patent number 10,247,565, is
Reporters obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Drivers and passengers assume a certain degree of risk of injury or property damage when travelling by vehicle. This risk may be mitigated by reducing or eliminating certain contributing factors. For example, a driver may avoid risky behavior, such as driving while intoxicated, driving while tired, or driving while texting. As another example, a driver may mitigate the risk of serious injury by driving a car with safety features such as airbags, seatbelts, and antilock brakes.
“However, certain risk factors may not be mitigated. For example, the very nature of a vehicle may present certain inherent risks. A typical car may weigh thousands of pounds and may not always maneuver or stop quickly. When travelling at even a moderate speed, a collision may result in serious damage to the vehicle and serious injury to the occupants. Further, a driver or passenger of a vehicle may have no control over perhaps the greatest risk factor involved with driving: other drivers or passengers in other vehicles.
“In some situations, environmental factors may contribute to the relative riskiness or safety of an area. For example, a driver approaching a one-lane bridge in a valley between two hills may not see the bridge until the vehicle has crested the hill. If the distance between the hill crest and the bridge is short, the driver may have little time to react if a second driver is approaching the bridge from the other direction. A driver may have little to no control over these environmental factors.
“Moreover, environmental factors contributing to the riskiness of an area may not always be readily apparent, observable, or quantifiable. For example, even if a civil engineer identifies a number of one-lane bridges as potentially dangerous, she may have no way of quantifying how risky these one-lane bridges are relative to one another. Additionally, the engineer may overlook a two-lane bridge that is seemingly safe, but which is in actuality riskier than many of the identified one-lane bridges. Because the environmental factors contributing to risk may not always be apparent, observable, or quantifiable, these environmental risk factors may go unnoticed. Thus, engineers and government officials may never identify certain high-risk areas, much less identify solutions to mitigate the risk and improve the safety of the areas for vehicle drivers and passengers.
“Further, in some situations, a driver or passenger may be exposed to high risk traffic situations, particularly when relying on recommended routes from a navigation application or navigator when travelling through unfamiliar places. The routes may pass through hazardous areas, such as high risk intersections, road segments or portions of certain roads, abnormal traffic patterns, exit ramps, circular traffic flows, road construction areas, and parking lots susceptible to theft, exposing the driver or passenger to the risk of property damage, injury, time delay stemming from accidents, and the likes.”
In addition to obtaining background information on this patent, NewsRx editors also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “The present embodiments disclose systems and methods that may generally relate to reducing vehicle collisions, and particularly, inter alia, to identifying or selecting a travel route for a vehicle that avoids traversing the areas that are prone to vehicle collisions.
“Hazardous areas (e.g., high risk intersections, road segments or portions of certain roads, bridges, abnormal traffic patterns, exit ramps, circular traffic flows, road construction areas, parking lots, and other transportation infrastructure) are prone to induce, or be associated with, vehicle collisions. One way to measure how hazardous an area is by calculating a risk index for the area, which quantifies how prone the area is to vehicle collisions. When risk indices are calculated for more than one area, the risk indices may be compared to one another to enable a comparison of the relative riskiness of several areas.
“Calculating the risk index may include any one or more of: (i) calculating a number of expected collisions in an area over a time period; (ii) determining a number of observed collisions in the area over the time period; and (iii) calculating the risk index based upon a comparison between the number of expected collisions and the number of observed collisions. The number of expected and observed collisions may be calculated based upon (a) historical traffic data for the area, and/or (b) historical traffic data for multiple areas, such that the number of expected and observed collisions may correspond to the risk index for the area and/or risk indices for multiple areas (e.g., mean, median, or mode of the risk indices). Examples of historical traffic data include historical auto insurance claim data and/or other data, such as vehicle collision data, mobile device data, telematics data, vehicle mounted-sensor data, autonomous vehicle sensor data, smart infrastructure sensor data, and image data. The number of expected collisions may be a function of traffic volume or flow, and may be further adjusted for market penetration. The number of observed collisions may be limited to observations involving vehicles within the market corresponding to the market penetration.
“Subsequent to calculating the risk index, the systems and methods may select a travel route for a vehicle based upon an aggregate risk index over that travel route. In some embodiments, the systems and methods may further include determining that the risk index for an area, or the aggregated risk index over a specified route exceeds a predetermined threshold. If the risk index for the area, or if the aggregated risk index over a specified route exceeds a predetermined threshold, the area or route may be classified as hazardous. Such a determination may be used as a criteria when selecting a travel route for a vehicle that avoids the hazardous area or specified route having a risk index exceeding the predetermined threshold. If the risk index for the area does not exceed the predetermined threshold, the area may not be classified as hazardous, and the selected travel route may either traverse or not traverse the non-hazardous area.
“The systems and methods may further transmit the selected travel route to an electronic device (e.g., mobile device, an on-board computer, wearable electronics, or a navigator) associated with a vehicle, operator or passenger of a vehicle, pedestrian, bicyclist, and the likes to facilitate routing or re-routing that avoids traversing the area based upon the risk index or based upon a lower aggregate risk for a specified route, via wireless communication or data transmission over one or more radio links or wireless communication channels.
“In some embodiments, the systems and methods may further include generating a notification based upon the risk index. Such notification may be a virtual navigation map or an audible, visual, or haptic alert. For example, the virtual navigation map may visually depict the risk index. The virtual navigation map may include graphic elements depicting risk indices for one or areas. The virtual navigation map may be in the form of a heat map. The systems and methods may further transmit the generated notification to an electronic device (e.g., mobile device, an on-board computer, wearable electronics including an augmented reality appliance, and a navigator) associated with a vehicle, operator or passenger of a vehicle, pedestrian, bicyclist, and the likes to facilitate routing or re-routing that avoids traversing the area based upon the risk index, via wireless communication or data transmission over one or more radio links or wireless communication channels. The electronic devices may receive such notifications when approaching the hazardous area (e.g., an area having a risk index exceeding a predetermined threshold) for instance. The notification may indicate that potentially hazardous traffic conditions such as merging traffic, abnormal traffic flow, reduced number of lanes (e.g., 3 lanes being condensed to 2 lanes), road construction, and suboptimal road surface resulting from inclement weather conditions are on the route ahead. The systems and methods may include additional, less, or alternate functionality, including that discussed elsewhere herein.
“In some embodiments, a computer system may include a processor and one or more memory devices storing non-transitory computer readable instructions that when executed cause the processor to calculate a risk index. The instructions may cause the processor to do any one or more of the following: (i) calculating a number of expected collisions in an area over a time period; (ii) determining a number of observed collisions in the area over the time period; and (iii) calculating the risk index based upon a comparison between the number of expected collisions and the number of observed collisions. The number of expected and observed collisions may be calculated based upon (a) historical traffic data for the area, and/or (b) historical traffic data for multiple areas, such that the number of expected and observed collisions may correspond to the risk index for the area and/or risk indices for multiple areas (e.g., mean, median, or mode of the risk indices). The number of expected collisions may be a function of traffic flow, and/or adjusted for market penetration. The number of observed collisions may be limited to observations involving vehicles within the market corresponding to the market penetration.
“In some embodiments, the instructions may further cause the processor to select a travel route for a vehicle based upon the risk index. In some embodiments, the instructions may further cause the processor to determine that the risk index for an area or that the aggregate risk index for a specified route exceeds a predetermined threshold. If the risk index for the area exceeds a predetermined threshold, the area may be classified as hazardous. Such a determination may be used as a criteria when selecting a travel route for a vehicle that avoids traversing the hazardous area having a risk index exceeding the predetermined threshold. If the risk index for the area does not exceed the predetermined threshold, the area may not be classified as hazardous, and the selected travel route may either traverse or not traverse the non-hazardous area.
“In some embodiments, the instructions may further cause the processor to transmit the selected travel route to an electronic device (e.g., mobile device, an on-board computer, wearable electronics, and a navigator) associated with a vehicle, operator or passenger of a vehicle, pedestrian, bicyclist, and the likes to facilitate routing or re-routing that avoids traversing the area based upon the risk index, via wireless communication or data transmission over one or more radio links or wireless communication channels.
“In some embodiments, the instructions may further cause the processor to generate notification based upon the risk index. Such notification may be a virtual navigation map or an audible, visual, or haptic alert. For example, the virtual navigation map may visually depict the risk index. The virtual navigation map may include graphic elements depicting risk indices for one or areas. The virtual navigation map may be in the form of a heat map.
“In some embodiments, the instructions may further cause the processor to transmit the generated notification to an electronic device (e.g., mobile device, an on-board computer, wearable electronics, and a navigator) associated with a vehicle, operator or passenger of a vehicle, pedestrian, bicyclist, and the likes to facilitate routing or re-routing that avoids traversing the area based upon the risk index, via wireless communication or data transmission over one or more radio links or wireless communication channels. The electronic devices may receive such notifications when approaching the hazardous area (e.g., an area having a risk index exceeding a predetermined threshold) for instance. The notification may indicate that hazardous areas such as merging traffic, abnormal traffic flow, reduced number of lanes (e.g., 3 lanes being condensed to 2 lanes), road construction are approaching.
“Advantages will become more apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description of the preferred embodiments which have been shown and described by way of illustration. As will be realized, the present embodiments may be capable of other and different embodiments, and their details are capable of modification in various respects. Accordingly, the drawings and description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not as restrictive.”
The claims supplied by the inventors are:
“What is claimed is:
“1. A computer-implemented method, carried out by one or more processors of a server communicatively coupled to a device for monitoring or controlling vehicle operation, of reducing vehicle collisions, the method comprising: calculating, by the one or more processors, a number of expected collisions in an area over a time period based upon historical traffic data corresponding to one or more comparable areas near the area; determining, by the one or more processors, a number of observed collisions in the area over the time period; calculating, by the one or more processors, a risk index for the area, wherein the risk index is a comparison result between the number of expected collisions and the number of observed collisions; selecting, by the one or more processors, a travel route for a vehicle based upon the calculated risk index; and transmitting, via a transceiver and via wireless communication or data transmission over one or more radio frequency links or wireless communication channels, the selected travel route to the device to facilitate routing of the vehicle that avoids traversing the area, wherein the device comprises at least one of a mobile device, an on-board computer, or a navigator.
“2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining, by the one or more processors, that the risk index for the area exceeds a predetermined threshold, and wherein the selecting of the travel route is based upon the risk index exceeding the predetermined threshold.
“3. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, via the transceiver, an indication that the vehicle routed around the area; and adjusting, by the processor, an insurance premium in response to the indication.
“4. The method of claim 1, wherein the number of expected collisions is calculated based upon historical traffic data for the area.
“5. The method of claim 1, wherein the number of expected collisions is a function of traffic flow.
“6. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the number of expected collisions or the number of observed collisions is adjusted for market penetration.
“7. A server communicatively coupled to a device for monitoring or controlling vehicle operation, the server configured to reduce vehicle collisions, the server comprising: a memory configured to store non-transitory computer executable instructions; a processor configured to interface with the memory; and a transceiver coupled to the processor, the transceiver configured to communicate via a wireless communication or data transmission over one or more radio frequency links or wireless communication channels, wherein the processor is configured to execute the non-transitory computer executable instructions to cause the processor to: calculate a number of expected collisions in an area over a time period based upon historical traffic data corresponding to one or more comparable areas near the area; determine a number of observed collisions in the area over the time period; calculate a risk index for the area, wherein the risk index is a comparison result between the number of expected collisions and the number of observed collisions; select a travel route for a vehicle based upon the calculated risk index; and transmit, via the transceiver, the selected travel route to the device to facilitate routing of the vehicle that avoids traversing the area, wherein the device comprises at least one of a mobile device, an on-board computer, or a navigator.
“8. The server of claim 7, wherein the processor is further configured to: determine the risk index for the area exceeds a predetermined threshold, and wherein the processor selects the travel route based upon the risk index exceeding the predetermined threshold.
“9. The server of claim 8, wherein the transceiver is further configured to receive an indication that the vehicle routed around the area, and wherein the processor is further configured to adjust an insurance premium in response to the indication.
“10. The server of claim 7, wherein the number of expected collisions is calculated based upon historical traffic data for the area.
“11. The server of claim 7, wherein the number of expected collisions is a function of traffic flow.
“12. The server of 7, wherein at least one of the number of expected collisions or the number of observed collisions is adjusted for market penetration.
“13. A non-transitory computer readable medium containing a set of computer readable instructions for reducing vehicle collisions that when executed by a processor of a server communicatively coupled to a device for monitoring or controlling vehicle operation, configure the processor to: calculate a number of expected collisions in an area over a time period based upon historical traffic data corresponding to one or more comparable areas near the area; calculate a number of observed collisions in the area over the time period; calculate a risk index for the area, wherein the risk index is a comparison result between the number of expected collisions and the number of observed collisions; select a travel route for a vehicle based upon the calculated risk index; and transmit, via a transceiver and via wireless communication or data transmission over one or more radio frequency links or wireless communication channels, the selected travel route to the device to facilitate routing of the vehicle that avoids traversing the area, wherein the device comprises at least one of a mobile device, an on-board computer, or a navigator.
“14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the processor is further configured to determine that the risk index for the area exceeds a predetermined threshold, and wherein the processor selects the travel route based upon the risk index exceeding the predetermined threshold.
“15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the number of expected collisions is calculated based upon historical traffic data for the area.
“16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the number of expected collisions is a function of traffic flow.
“17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein at least one of the number of expected collisions or the number of observed collisions is adjusted for market penetration.”
For more information, see this patent: Nepomuceno, John A.; Shah, Rajiv C.; Chan,
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