Patent Issued for Utilizing vehicle telematics to detect, evaluate, and respond to driving behaviors (USPTO 11433908): Allstate Insurance Company

2022 SEP 27 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- According to news reporting originating from Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx journalists, a patent by the inventors Bischoff, Christine L. (La Grange, IL, US), Maday, David (Buffalo Grove, IL, US), filed on March 15, 2021, was published online on September 6, 2022.

The assignee for this patent, patent number 11433908, is Allstate Insurance Company (Northbrook, Illinois, United States).

Reporters obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Insurance coverage for vehicles has become more complicated than in the past due to the changing nature in which people use vehicles. For example, a vehicle may be used for personal use or for ride sharing. Additionally, an owner of a vehicle may share the vehicle with a third party. Each type of vehicle use may carry different risks. And thus different types and scopes of insurance coverage may be demanded. The use of a vehicle for different purposes may be a fluid, continual flow back and forth between different types of use. For example, a vehicle owner may participate in a ride sharing service, utilizing the vehicle for both personal use and to provide transit services for others. The vehicle owner may alternate between being for hire and not for hire during a single driving session. As another example, the vehicle owner may participate in a vehicle sharing service, renting the vehicle to third parties that utilize the vehicle for personal use and/or ride sharing services. From the perspective of insurance companies, there remains a challenge to determine how a vehicle is being used at any given moment and what the corresponding scope of insurance coverage should be for that use. Furthermore, some current insurance customers may desire policies that provide coverage on an as-needed basis, i.e., only when the vehicle is in use.

“Moreover, insurance risks may vary from driver to driver based on driving habits. Some drivers may be considered to be “good” drivers by exhibiting safe driving behaviors, while other drivers may be considered to be “bad” drivers by exhibiting risky driving behaviors (e.g., speeding, fast acceleration, hard braking, sharp turns, etc.). From the perspective of insurance companies, there remains the challenge to detect driving behaviors such that the degrees of the risks may be reflected in the cost of insurance coverage (e.g., lower costs for “good” drivers). Vehicle telematics technology may be leveraged to address these challenges.”

In addition to obtaining background information on this patent, NewsRx editors 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 using vehicle telematics to detect, evaluate, and respond to driving behaviors. A vehicle telematics device may generate vehicle telematics information that characterizes the operation of a vehicle by a driver. For example, the vehicle telematics information may characterize various driving behaviors of the driver during a trip in a vehicle. Such driving behaviors may include speed, acceleration, turning, and braking. The vehicle telematics information may also characterize aspects of a trip in the vehicle. Such aspects of the trip may include distance traveled, duration, and location. These aspects of the trip may correspond to a particular segment of the trip or the entire trip. The vehicle telematics information may also characterize the purpose of the trip. Such purposes may include use of the vehicle for personal use, for ride sharing purposes, or vehicle sharing purposes. The vehicle telematics information may also indicate the number of passengers in the vehicle during the trip.

“The driving behaviors observed during a trip may be evaluated and characterized as “good”/“positive” driving behaviors or “bad”/“negative” driving behaviors. For example, “good”/“positive” driving behaviors may include driving at speeds that meet specified speed limits as well as smooth and controlled acceleration, turning, and braking that meet respective inertial thresholds. Similarly, “bad”/“negative” driving behaviors may include excessive vehicle speeds as well as harsh acceleration, turning, or braking, e.g., those that exceed inertial thresholds.

“The driving behaviors may be observed for multiple trips in the vehicle and across multiple observation periods. A rate to charge a driver may be based on the driving behaviors observed during an evaluation period. The evaluation period may include one or more observation periods, e.g., a series of contiguous observation periods or a set of individual observation periods. The determined rate to charge the driver may apply to one or more observation periods, e.g., a completed observation period or an upcoming observation period. The rate to charge a driver may fluctuate across observation periods based on the driving behaviors observed across those observation periods. For example, the driver may be charged a relatively lower rate based on observing “good”/“positive” driving behaviors. Likewise, the driver may be charged a relatively higher rate based on observing “bad”/“negative” driving behaviors.

“The rate to charge the driver may be selected from a range of rates associated with a driver. For example, the rate to charge the driver may be selected from the lower end of the range based on observing “good”/“positive” driving behaviors or from the higher end of the range based on observing “bad”/“negative” driving behaviors. Multiple ranges of rates may be associated with the driver. For example, one range of rates may be used to determine the rate to charge the driver for personal use of the vehicle while another range of rates may be used to determine the rate to charge the driver based on the use of the vehicle in a ride sharing or vehicle sharing scenario.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A system comprising: one or more processors; and memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to: receive vehicle operation data characterizing operation of a vehicle during a first period, wherein the first period has a first duration and comprises a plurality of second periods each having a second duration shorter than the first duration, wherein the vehicle operation data comprises, for each second period of the plurality of second periods, an indication of a quantity of driving segments traveled during the second period; determine, for each second period of the plurality of second periods and based on the quantity of driving segments traveled during the second period by a driver, an amount to charge the driver; determine, based on the amount determined for each second period of the plurality of second periods, a total amount to charge the driver for insurance coverage provided during the first period; and send, to at least the driver, an indication of the total amount determined.

“2. The system of claim 1, wherein the amount to charge the driver is determined based on a first indication of a first driving behavior that occurred during the second period and a second indication of a second driving behavior that occurred during the second period.

“3. The system of claim 1, wherein the system receives the vehicle operation data via a wireless communication channel from a vehicle telematics device associated with the vehicle and configured to detect, using one or more sensors, operation of the vehicle.

“4. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to select an insurance rate for a second period of the plurality of second periods further based on a prior insurance rate selected for a prior second period, and wherein the amount to charge the driver is determined further based on the insurance rate.

“5. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the system to select an insurance rate based on a type of a driving behavior of the driver, wherein the amount to charge the driver is determined further based on the insurance rate.

“6. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the system to select an insurance rate, based on a type of a driving behavior of the driver, that is greater than a prior insurance rate selected for a prior second period, wherein the amount to charge the driver is determined further based on the insurance rate.

“7. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the system to: receive, for a second period of the plurality of second periods, an indication of a ride sharing status of the vehicle; and select an insurance rate for the second period based on the ride sharing status received, wherein the amount to charge the driver is determined further based on the insurance rate.

“8. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the system to: receive, for a second period of the plurality of second periods, an indication of a ride sharing phase of the vehicle; and select an insurance rate for the second period based on the ride sharing phase received, wherein the amount to charge the driver is determined further based on the insurance rate.

“9. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the system to: receive, for a second period of the plurality of second periods, an indication of a vehicle sharing status of the vehicle; and select an insurance rate for the second period based on the vehicle sharing status received, wherein the amount to charge the driver is determined further based on the insurance rate.

“10. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the system to: receive, for a second period of the plurality of second periods, an indication of an autonomous operation status of the vehicle; and select an insurance rate for the second period further based on the autonomous operation status received, wherein the amount to charge the driver is determined further based on the insurance rate.

“11. The system of claim 1, further comprising a data store, wherein: the data store stores: a first predetermined range of insurance rates to insure a driver for a first type of vehicle use; and a second predetermined range of insurance rates to insure the driver for a second type of vehicle use; and the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to: receive an indication of a type of vehicle use of the vehicle; and select, as a range of insurance rates, the first predetermined range of insurance rates based on the type of vehicle use being the first type of vehicle use or the second predetermined range of insurance rates based on the type of vehicle use being the second type of vehicle use, wherein the amount to charge the driver is determined further based on an insurance rate that is within the range of insurance rates.

“12. A computer-implemented method comprising: storing, at a data store of a server system, an insurance policy, wherein the insurance policy indicates a predetermined range of insurance rates to insure a driver for a driving segment traveled during a first period having a first duration, wherein the first period comprises a plurality of second periods each having a second duration shorter than the first duration; receiving vehicle operation data characterizing operation of a vehicle during the first period, wherein the vehicle operation data comprises, for each second period of the plurality of second periods, an indication of one or more driving behaviors occurring during the second period; selecting, from the predetermined range of insurance rates for each second period of the plurality of second periods and based on the indication of the one or more driving behaviors occurring during the second period, an insurance rate; determining, for each second period of the plurality of second periods and based on the insurance rate selected, an amount to charge the driver; determining, based on the amount determined for each second period of the plurality of second periods, a total amount to charge the driver for insurance coverage provided during the first period; and sending, to at least the driver, an indication of the total amount determined.

“13. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein the selecting the insurance rate for the second period of the plurality of second periods comprises selecting the insurance rate further based on a prior insurance rate selected for a prior second period.

“14. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein the selecting the insurance rate for the second period of the plurality of second periods comprises selecting the insurance rate further based on a type of the driving behavior.

“15. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, further comprising: receiving for the second period of the plurality of second periods, an indication of a ride sharing status of the vehicle, wherein the selecting the insurance rate for the second period comprises selecting the insurance rate for the second period further based on the ride sharing status received.

“16. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, further comprising: receiving, for the second period of the plurality of second periods, an indication of a vehicle sharing status of the vehicle, wherein the selecting the insurance rate for the second period comprises selecting the insurance rate for the second period further based on the vehicle sharing status received.

“17. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, further comprising: receiving an indication of an autonomous operation status of the vehicle, and wherein the selecting the insurance rate for the second period comprises selecting the insurance rate for the second period further based on the autonomous operation status received.

“18. The system of claim 1, further comprising a data store storing an insurance policy, wherein the insurance policy indicates a predetermined range of insurance rates to insure a driver for a driving segment traveled during a first period having a first duration, wherein the first period comprises a plurality of second periods each having a second duration shorter than the first duration, wherein: the vehicle operation data further comprises an indication of one or more driving behaviors occurring during the second period; and the instructions further cause the system to select, from the predetermined range of insurance rates for each second period of the plurality of second periods and based on the indication of the one or more driving behaviors occurring during the second period, an insurance rate, wherein the amount to charge to driver is further determined based on the insurance rate.

“19. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein the vehicle operation data further comprise, for each second period of the plurality of second periods, an indication of a quantity of driving segments traveled during the second period, and wherein the amount to charge the driver is further determined based on the quantity of driving segments traveled during the second period.”

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

For more information, see this patent: Bischoff, Christine L. Utilizing vehicle telematics to detect, evaluate, and respond to driving behaviors. U.S. Patent Number 11433908, filed March 15, 2021, and published online on September 6, 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=11433908.PN.&OS=PN/11433908RS=PN/11433908

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