Researchers Submit Patent Application, “Autonomous Vehicle Insurance Based Upon Usage”, for Approval (USPTO 20220318924): State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company

2022 OCT 21 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- From Washington, D.C., NewsRx journalists report that a patent application by the inventors Bennett, Shawn C. (Le Roy, IL, US); Binion, Todd (Bloomington, IL, US); Bryant, Ronny S. (Bloomington, IL, US); Chan, Aaron Scott (San Jose, CA, US); Cielocha, Steven C. (Bloomington, IL, US); Csanda, Carol Marie (Hudson, IL, US); Fields, Brian Mark (Phoenix, AZ, US); Gorsuch, Stacey (Bloomington, IL, US); Huang, Chien Che (Normal, IL, US); Kohaus, Stephen A. (Bloomington, IL, US); Main, Craig M. (Allen, TX, US); Novak, Richard A. (Plano, TX, US); Quakenbush, Terry (Bloomington, IL, US); Wazeer, Mohamed A. (Normal, IL, US); Wollenschlager, Torri (Bloomington, IL, US); Wu, Weixin (Normal, IL, US), filed on June 23, 2022, was made available online on October 6, 2022.

The patent’s assignee is State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (Bloomington, Illinois, United States).

News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Vehicles are typically operated by a human vehicle operator who controls both steering and motive controls. Operator error, inattention, inexperience, misuse, or distraction leads to many vehicle accidents each year, resulting in injury and damage. Autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicles augment vehicle operators’ information or replace vehicle operators’ control commands to operate the vehicle in whole or part with computer systems based upon information from sensors within the vehicle.

“Vehicle or automobile insurance exists to provide financial protection against physical damage and/or bodily injury resulting from traffic accidents and against liability that could arise therefrom. Typically, a customer purchases a vehicle insurance policy for a policy rate having a specified term. In exchange for payments from the insured customer, the insurer pays for damages to the insured which are caused by covered perils, acts, or events as specified by the language of the insurance policy. The payments from the insured are generally referred to as “premiums,” and typically are paid on behalf of the insured over time at periodic intervals. An insurance policy may remain “in-force” while premium payments are made during the term or length of coverage of the policy as indicated in the policy. An insurance policy may “lapse” (or have a status or state of “lapsed”), for example, when premium payments are not being paid or if the insured or the insurer cancels the policy.

“Premiums may be typically determined based upon a selected level of insurance coverage, location of vehicle operation, vehicle model, and characteristics or demographics of the vehicle operator. The characteristics of a vehicle operator that affect premiums may include age, years operating vehicles of the same class, prior incidents involving vehicle operation, and losses reported by the vehicle operator to the insurer or a previous insurer. Past and current premium determination methods do not, however, account for use of autonomous vehicle operating features. The present embodiments may, inter alia, alleviate this and/or other drawbacks associated with conventional techniques.”

As a supplement to the background information on this patent application, NewsRx correspondents also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent application: “The present embodiments may be related to autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle functionality, including driverless operation, accident avoidance, or collision warning systems. These autonomous vehicle operation features may either assist the vehicle operator to more safely or efficiently operate a vehicle or may take full control of vehicle operation under some or all circumstances. The present embodiments may also facilitate risk assessment and premium determination for vehicle insurance policies covering vehicles with autonomous operation features. For instance, a consumer may opt-in to a rewards program that rewards them, such as in the form of insurance discounts, for affirmatively sharing data related to their vehicles and/or autonomous features with an insurance provider.

“In accordance with the described embodiments, the disclosure herein generally addresses systems and methods for generating or updating a usage-based insurance policy for one or more autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicles, which may include one or more sensors. A computer associated with the vehicle (such as an on-board computer, mobile device, or server communicatively connected to the vehicle), an insurance provider (such as a server), or an insurance customer (such as a personal computer, mobile device, or smart phone) may (1) receive a request to generate an insurance policy covering use of the one or more autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicles by an insurance customer; (2) determine one or more risk levels associated with use of the one or more autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle by the insurance customer; (3) determine one or more aspects of the insurance policy based upon the determined one or more risk levels and the information regarding intended vehicle usage; (4) cause at least a portion of the insurance policy to be presented to the insurance customer for review; (5) receive an indication of acceptance of the insurance policy from the insurance customer; and/or (6) cause the insurance policy to be issued to the insurance customer. The request to generate the insurance policy may include information regarding intended vehicle usage. The information regarding intended vehicle usage may include information regarding frequency of use of the rented autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle. Additionally, or alternatively, the one or more autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicles may include an autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle rented by the insurance customer.

“In some embodiments, the determined one or more aspects of the insurance policy may include a route of operation of the one or more autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicles. In further embodiments, the determined one or more aspects of the insurance policy may include one or more costs based upon the intended usage of the one or more autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicles, which intended usage may be measured in distance and/or duration of vehicle operation. The one or more costs may further be based upon one or more of the following: a route of operation, a time of day of operation, a duration of a vehicle trip, a distance of a vehicle trip, weather conditions, traffic conditions, and/or geographic location of a vehicle trip. Additionally, or alternatively, the one or more costs may further be based upon one or more of the following: autonomous operation features of the one or more autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicles, versions of the autonomous operation features of the one or more autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle, and/or use of the autonomous operation features of the one or more autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicles.

“In each of the embodiments or aspects described above, the methods may be provided in corresponding computer systems including at least one or more processors and a non-transitory program memory coupled to the one or more processors and storing executable instructions. The computer systems may further include or be communicatively connected to one or more sensors, communication components or devices, or other equipment as described herein. In yet another aspect, a tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions corresponding to each of the embodiments or aspects described above may be provided. Each of the methods or executable instructions of the computer systems or computer-readable media may include additional, fewer, or alternate actions, including those discussed elsewhere herein.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A computer-implemented method for generating or updating a usage-based insurance policy for one or more autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicles, the method comprising: determining, by one or more processors, an identity of a vehicle operator of an autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle; accessing, by the one or more processors, a vehicle operator profile associated with the vehicle operator, wherein the vehicle operator profile includes information regarding use of a plurality of autonomous operation features that autonomously or semi-autonomously perform aspects of vehicle control; determining, by the one or more processors, a risk level associated with operation of the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle based upon environmental conditions in which the vehicle is likely to be operating including at least foreseeable weather conditions, and one or more settings of the plurality of autonomous operation features by the vehicle operator based upon the vehicle operator profile; and determining, by the one or more processors, a cost of an insurance policy based upon the determined risk level.

“2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 and further comprising: causing, by the one or more processors, the cost of the insurance policy based upon the determined risk level to be presented to the vehicle operator; causing, by the one or more processors, one or more options to be presented to the vehicle operator, wherein the one or more options includes an option to lower the cost of the insurance policy by adjusting the one or more settings of the plurality of autonomous operation features; receiving, at the one or more processors, an indication of a selection by the vehicle operator of the option to lower the cost of the insurance policy by adjusting the one or more settings of the plurality of autonomous operation features; causing, by the one or more processors, adjustment of the one or more settings of the plurality of autonomous operation features in accordance with the selection by the vehicle operator; and causing, by the one or more processors, the lower cost insurance policy to be issued to the vehicle operator.

“3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein determining the cost of the insurance policy comprises determining the cost based upon one or more risk levels associated with separate autonomous operation features.

“4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein determining the cost of the insurance policy comprises determining the cost for each of the one or more risk levels associated with the separate autonomous operation features based upon the environmental conditions.

“5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, wherein each of the one or more risk levels are weighted based upon likelihood.

“6. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein determining the cost of the insurance policy comprises determining the cost based upon interaction between the autonomous operation features.

“7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein determining the cost of the insurance policy comprises determining the cost based upon interaction between the autonomous operation features.

“8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein determining the risk levels comprises determining the risk levels based upon environmental conditions including one or more of weather, traffic, road conditions, time of day, location of operation or type of road.

“9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein determining the risk levels comprises determining the risk levels based upon environmental conditions determined based upon signals received from one or more sensors on the vehicle or a source of external data.

“10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 and further comprising: presenting, by the one or more processors, to the vehicle operator, the determined cost of the insurance policy for the foreseeable weather conditions, and the one or more settings of the plurality of autonomous operation features; receiving, by the one or more processors, acceptance of the insurance policy by the vehicle operator; and causing, by the one or more processors, the insurance policy to be issued to the vehicle operator.

“11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 and further comprising: monitoring, by the one or more processors, the settings of the plurality of autonomous operation features and current environmental conditions including at least current weather conditions during use of the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle by the vehicle operator; determining, by the one or more processors, a changed risk level based upon the one or more settings of the autonomous operation features, and changed current environmental conditions including at least changed current weather conditions compared to the foreseeable weather conditions; and presenting to the vehicle operator, by the one or more processors, one or more options to select a lower-cost insurance policy for an operating mode with at least one different setting for the plurality of autonomous operation features associated with a lower risk level under the changed current weather conditions.

“12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11 and further comprising determining, by the one or more processors, the changed risk level exceeds a threshold level of risk before presenting the one or more options to the vehicle operator.

“13. The computer-implemented method of claim 11 and further comprising: receiving, by the one or more processors, a selection by the vehicle operator to accept one of the one or more options for a lower-cost insurance policy, wherein the selection causes the one or more processors to automatically adjust the one or more settings of the plurality of autonomous operation features to implement the operating mode associated with the at least one different setting and the lower risk level under the changed current weather conditions; and adjusting, by the one or more processors, the cost of the insurance policy based upon the selection by the vehicle operator.

“14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein the cost of the insurance policy is based upon one or more of a route of operation, a time of day of operation, a duration of a vehicle trip, a distance of a vehicle trip, traffic conditions, or geographic location of a vehicle trip.

“15. The computer implemented method of claim 14, wherein the cost of the insurance policy is based upon versions of the autonomous operation features of the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle.

“16. The computer implemented method of claim 13, wherein the cost of the insurance policy is based upon versions of the autonomous operation features of the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle.

“17. A computer system for generating a usage-based insurance policy for one or more autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicles, comprising: one or more processors; a program memory coupled to the one or more processors and storing executable instructions that when executed by the one or more processors cause the computer system to: determine an identity of a vehicle operator of an autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle; access a vehicle operator profile associated with the vehicle operator, wherein the vehicle operator profile includes information regarding use of a plurality of autonomous operation features that autonomously or semi-autonomously perform aspects of vehicle control; determine a risk level associated with operation of the autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle based upon environmental conditions in which the vehicle is likely to be operating including at least foreseeable weather conditions, and one or more settings of the plurality of autonomous operation features by the vehicle operator based upon the vehicle operator profile; and determine by the one or more processors, a cost of an insurance policy based upon the determined risk level.

“18. The computer system of claim 17, wherein the program memory further stores executable instructions that cause the computer system to: present the cost of the insurance policy based upon the determined risk level to the vehicle operator; present one or more options to the vehicle operator, wherein the one or more options includes an option to lower the cost of the insurance policy by adjusting the one or more settings of the plurality of autonomous operation features; receive an indication of a selection by the vehicle operator of the option to lower the cost of the insurance policy by adjusting the one or more settings of the plurality of autonomous operation features; adjust the one or more settings of the plurality of autonomous operation features in accordance with the selection by the vehicle operator; and cause the lower cost insurance policy to be issued to the vehicle operator.”

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

For additional information on this patent application, see: Bennett, Shawn C.; Binion, Todd; Bryant, Ronny S.; Chan, Aaron Scott; Cielocha, Steven C.; Csanda, Carol Marie; Fields, Brian Mark; Gorsuch, Stacey; Huang, Chien Che; Kohaus, Stephen A.; Main, Craig M.; Novak, Richard A.; Quakenbush, Terry; Wazeer, Mohamed A.; Wollenschlager, Torri; Wu, Weixin. Autonomous Vehicle Insurance Based Upon Usage. Filed June 23, 2022 and posted October 6, 2022. Patent URL: https://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=%2220220318924%22.PGNR.&OS=DN/20220318924&RS=DN/20220318924

(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)