Patent Issued for Vehicle driver safety performance based on relativity (USPTO 11783264): State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company

2023 OCT 31 (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 Fields, Brian Mark (Normal, IL, US), filed on June 6, 2022, was published online on October 10, 2023.

The assignee for this patent, patent number 11783264, is State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (Bloomington, Illinois, United States).

Reporters obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Vehicles are typically operated by a human vehicle operator (e.g., a vehicle driver) who controls both steering and motive controls. Currently known methods for determining or rating a driver’s performance typically include collecting telematics data from the driver’s vehicle while a driver operates the vehicle, and analyzing the collected data to generate a rating or determination of the driver’s performance in operating the vehicle. Typical telematics data that is collected to rate a driver’s performance includes vehicle movement data such as speed, acceleration, cornering, braking, and the like. Other data that is conventionally used in rating a driver’s performance include the time of day, miles traveled, and whether (or not) and/or where the vehicle is garaged. Conventionally, a driver’s performance rating is reflected by an average over a period of time, such as a six-month or yearly average.”

In addition to obtaining background information on this patent, NewsRx editors also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “The present disclosure generally relates to systems and methods for determining or rating driver safety performance based on relativity, e.g., to other drivers and/or to particular combinations of environmental conditions or contexts. Embodiments of example systems and methods are summarized below. The methods and systems summarized below may include additional, less, or alternate actions, including those discussed elsewhere herein.

“In an embodiment, a system for determining driver performance may comprise one or more communication interfaces; an access mechanism to a first set of data indicative of respective behavior of a plurality of drivers of a plurality of vehicles that traverse a plurality of routes, where the first set of data is based on data obtained by a set of sensors while the plurality of drivers operate respective vehicles along the plurality of routes; one or more processors; one or more non-transitory memories coupled to the one or more processors; and computer-executable instructions stored on the one or more non-transitory memories thereby particularly configuring the one or more non-transitory memories. The computer-executable instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, may cause the system to collect a second set of data, where at least a portion of the second set of data is obtained by a set of sensors disposed at a particular vehicle that is operated by a particular driver over a particular route, and each data point included in the second set of data is associated with a respective geospatial location included in the particular route; filter, using the access mechanism, the first set of data based on the particular route to obtain a subset of the first set of data corresponding to the particular route; and analyze the subset of the first set of data corresponding to the particular route to determine relative weightings amongst a plurality of different parameters whose values are included in the subset of the first set of data, where the plurality of different parameters is indicative of at least one of a behavior of the particular driver, a behavior of the vehicle, or an environmental condition of the particular route, and the relative weightings correspond to one or more levels of driving performance. Additionally, the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, may further cause the system to compare the second set of data corresponding to the particular driver with the analyzed subset of the first set of data; determine a level of driving performance of the particular driver based on the comparison; and transmit an indication of the determined level of driving performance of the particular driver corresponding to the particular route to at least one of: the particular vehicle operated by the particular driver, a user interface, or another computing device or system.

“In an embodiment, a method for determining driver performance may comprise collecting, by one or more computing devices communicatively connected to a set of sensors disposed at a particular vehicle, a first set of data, where at least a portion of the first set of data is obtained by the set of sensors while the particular vehicle is operated by a particular driver over a particular route, and each data point included in the first set of data is associated with a respective geospatial location included in the particular route; accessing a second set of data indicative of respective behaviors of a plurality of drivers of a plurality of vehicles traversing a plurality of routes, where the second set of data is based on data obtained by a plurality of sensors while the plurality of drivers operated respective vehicles along the plurality of routes, and the plurality of routes includes the particular route; and filtering the second set of data based on the particular route to obtain a subset of the second set of data corresponding to the particular route. The method may further comprise analyzing the subset of the second set of data corresponding to the particular route to determine relative weightings amongst a plurality of different parameters whose values are included in the subset of the second set of data, where the plurality of different parameters is indicative of at least one of a behavior of the particular driver, a behavior of the vehicle, or an environmental condition of the particular route, and the relative weightings correspond to one or more levels of driving performance; comparing the first set of data corresponding to the particular driver with analyzed subset of the second set of data; determining a level of driving performance of the particular driver for the particular route based on the comparison; and transmitting an indication of the level of driving performance of the particular driver to at least one of: the particular vehicle being operated by the particular driver, a user interface, or another computing device or system.

“Systems or computer-readable media storing executable instructions for implementing all or part of the systems and/or methods described herein may also be provided in some embodiments. Systems for implementing such methods may include one or more of the following: a special-purpose computing device, a mobile computing device, a personal electronic device, an on-board computer, one or more remote servers or cloud computing system, one or more remote data storage entities, one or more sensors, one or more communication modules configured to communicate wirelessly via radio links, radio frequency links, and/or wireless communication channels, and/or one or more non-transitory, tangible program memories coupled to one or more processors of the special-purpose computing device, mobile computing device, personal electronic device, on-board computer, and/or one or more remote servers or cloud computing system. Such program memories may store instructions, which, when executed by the one or more processors, may cause a system described herein to implement part or all of one or more methods described herein. Additional or alternative features described herein below may be included in some embodiments.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A system for determining driver performance, the system comprising: a processor; and memory in communication with the processor, the memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations including: causing a sensor carried by a vehicle to capture a first set of data, wherein the first set of data is captured while the vehicle is operated by a driver to traverse a route; accessing a second set of data exclusive of the first set of data, the second set of data comprising sensor data captured as a plurality of vehicles traversed respective routes, the second set of data indicating: dynamic contextual attributes of the respective routes, and historical driving behaviors of one or more other drivers distinct from the driver and corresponding to the dynamic contextual attributes, wherein the historical driving behaviors were exhibited by the one or more other drivers, while traversing the respective routes using the plurality of vehicles, and characterized by the sensor data; determining a safe driving threshold based at least in part on the dynamic contextual attributes and the historical driving behaviors; determining that at least a subset of the first set of data meets or exceeds the safe driving threshold, wherein the subset of the first set of data is associated with a parameter associated with a driver behavior or a vehicle behavior; based at least in part on determining that the at least the subset of the first set of data meets or exceeds the safe driving threshold, generating an operating instruction executable by a processor of the vehicle; transmitting the operating instruction to the processor of the vehicle causing the processor of the vehicle to modify an operational behavior of the vehicle such that the parameter is below the safe driving threshold as the vehicle traverses the route; and determining a metric indicating a driving performance of the driver and corresponding to the route, wherein the metric is determined based at least in part on the first set of data and the safe driving threshold.

“2. The system of claim 1, wherein the sensor carried by the vehicle is fixedly attached to the vehicle or comprises a component of a mobile electronic device disposed in the vehicle.

“3. The system of claim 1, wherein the second set of data includes first parameters indicating driving behaviors associated with the one or more other drivers, and second parameters indicating operating behaviors associated with respective vehicles of the plurality of vehicles, the operations further comprising: determining, based at least in part on the dynamic contextual attributes and the historical driving behaviors, respective weight values for each of the first parameters and the second parameters; and determining the metric further based at least in part on the respective weight values.

“4. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise: determining that the safe driving threshold differs from a predetermined driving threshold, the predetermined driving threshold corresponding to the route and being established independent of the first set of data; and generating the operating instruction is further based at least in part on determining that the safe driving threshold differs from the predetermined driving threshold.

“5. The system of claim 4, wherein causing the processor to modify the operational behavior of the vehicle comprises causing the processor to modify the operational behavior such that the vehicle operates within the safe driving threshold and outside of the predetermined driving threshold.

“6. The system of claim 1, wherein: the sensor carried by the vehicle comprises a first set of sensors, and the first set of data further includes data captured by a second set of sensors disposed in an environment along the route; the second set of sensors includes at least one of: a sensor fixedly disposed in the environment along the route, or a sensor disposed at other vehicles in the environment along the route that are different from the plurality of vehicles; and the data captured by the second set of sensors indicates the dynamic contextual attributes of the route, the data captured by the second set of sensors comprising at least one of a behavior of the driver, a behavior of the vehicle, or an environmental condition of the route.

“7. The system of claim 1, wherein the dynamic contextual attributes of the route comprise at least one of: weather, road congestion, or traffic.

“8. The system of claim 1, wherein the sensor carried by the vehicle comprises at least one of: a camera, an optical sensor, a speed sensor, a weight sensor, a noise sensor, a heat sensor, an accelerometer, a location tracking sensor, a proximity sensor, a seat belt sensor, or a sensor to detect an operation of an instrument included in the vehicle.

“9. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise characterizing a driving event occurring along a portion of the route as being safe based on the safe driving threshold, wherein the driving event would have been characterized as unsafe based on a predetermined driving threshold.

“10. A method comprising: causing a first set of data to be captured by a sensor carried by a vehicle, wherein the first set of data is captured while the vehicle is operated by a driver to traverse a route; accessing a second set of data exclusive of the first set of data, the second set of data comprising sensor data captured as a plurality of vehicles traversed respective routes, the second set of data indicating: dynamic contextual attributes of the respective routes, and historical driving behaviors of one or more other drivers distinct from the driver and corresponding to the dynamic contextual attributes, wherein the historical driving behaviors were exhibited by the one or more other drivers, while traversing the respective routes using the plurality of vehicles, and characterized by the sensor data; determining a safe driving threshold based at least in part on the dynamic contextual attributes and the historical driving behaviors; determining that at least a subset of the first set of data meets or exceeds the safe driving threshold, wherein the subset of the first set of data is associated with a parameter associated with a driver behavior or a vehicle behavior; based at least in part on determining that the at least the subset of the first set of data meets or exceeds the safe driving threshold, generating an operating instruction executable by a processor of the vehicle; transmitting the operating instruction to the processor of the vehicle causing the processor of the vehicle to modify an operational behavior of the vehicle such that the parameter is below the safe driving threshold as the vehicle traverses the route; and determining a metric indicating a driving performance of the driver and corresponding to the route, wherein the metric is determined based at least in part on the first set of data and the safe driving threshold.

“11. The method of claim 10, wherein the second set of data includes first parameters indicating driving behaviors associated with the one or more other drivers, and second parameters indicating operating behaviors associated with respective vehicles of the plurality of vehicles, further comprising: determining, based at least in part on the dynamic contextual attributes and the historical driving behaviors, respective weight values for each of the first parameters and the second parameters; and determining the safe driving threshold is further based at least in part on the respective weight values.

“12. The method of claim 11, further comprising: determining the respective weight values amongst the first parameters and the second parameters further based at least in part on generating a model defining the respective weight values amongst the first parameters and the second parameters; and determining the metric based at least in part on applying the model to the first set of data.

“13. The method of claim 10, further comprising: generating, based on at least one of the driving performance of the driver or the first set of data, at least one of an alert or a suggested driving behavior; and transmitting the at least one of the alert or the suggested driving behavior to the vehicle operated by the driver.

“14. The method of claim 10, wherein the first set of data is captured by at least one of: sensors fixedly attached to the vehicle or sensors included in a mobile electronic device disposed in the vehicle.

“15. The method of claim 10, wherein: the sensor carried by the vehicle is a first set of sensors; the method further comprises collecting data obtained by a third set of sensors disposed in an environment along the route while the vehicle traverses the route, the third set of sensors including at least one of: sensors fixedly disposed in the environment along the route, sensors disposed at other vehicles in the environment along the route that are different from the plurality of vehicles; the data obtained by the third set of sensors indicates the dynamic contextual attributes of the route, the data obtained by the third set of sensors comprising at least one of a behavior of the driver, a behavior of the vehicle, or an environmental condition of the route; and the method further comprises determining that a subset of a third set of data corresponding to the route includes data indicative of the dynamic contextual attributes of the route obtained while a plurality of drivers operate the plurality of vehicles over the route.”

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

For more information, see this patent: Fields, Brian Mark. Vehicle driver safety performance based on relativity. U.S. Patent Number 11783264, filed June 6, 2022, and published online on October 10, 2023. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(11783264)&db=USPAT&type=ids

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