Road segment safety rating

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10157422-B2
Application number	US-201514607433-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 28, 2015
Priority date	May 10, 2007
Publication date	Dec 18, 2018
Grant date	Dec 18, 2018

Abstract

Methods, computer-readable media, systems and apparatuses for determining a road segment safety rating are provided. 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. In some arrangements, 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.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
a telematics device configured to receive sensor information corresponding to vehicle operation data associated with a vehicle, wherein the telematics device is communicatively coupled to an onboard diagnostic system of the vehicle and is further configured to identify at least one driving behavior of a driver of the vehicle based on the sensor information received over a duration of time;
a global positioning system (GPS) device associated with the vehicle; and
an insurance system server communicatively coupled to the GPS device and the telematics device, the insurance system server comprising at least one processor and at least one memory storing computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the insurance system server to:
receive, from the GPS device associated with the vehicle, while the vehicle is traveling along a road segment, location information identifying a location of the vehicle;
determine, based on the location information received from the GPS device associated with the vehicle, the road segment on which the vehicle is travelling;
receive, from the telematics device, while the vehicle is traveling along the road segment, the sensor information received over the duration of time and an indication of the at least one driving behavior of the driver of the vehicle identified by the telematics device;
receive, from one or more sources, while the vehicle is traveling along the road segment, historical data associated with the road segment on which the vehicle is travelling;
while the vehicle is traveling along the road segment, determine a safety rating for the road segment on which the vehicle is travelling based on the historical data associated with the road segment on which the vehicle is travelling and the indication of the at least one driving behavior of the driver of the vehicle received from the telematics device;
while the vehicle is traveling along the road segment, determine an insurance cost associated with travelling on the road segment on which the vehicle is travelling based on the safety rating determined for the road segment on which the vehicle is travelling;
while the vehicle is traveling along the road segment, generate an insurance incentive based on the insurance cost associated with travelling on the road segment on which the vehicle is travelling; and
while the vehicle is traveling along the road segment, provide the safety rating for the road segment on which the vehicle is travelling to the driver of the vehicle,
wherein providing the safety rating for the road segment on which the vehicle is travelling to the driver of the vehicle comprises sending route risk value information to the GPS device associated with the vehicle based on the safety rating for the road segment on which the vehicle is travelling,
wherein sending the route risk value information to the GPS device associated with the vehicle causes the GPS device associated with the vehicle to display the road segment on which the vehicle is travelling in a red color if the safety rating for the road segment on which the vehicle is travelling is below a predetermined threshold or in a green color if the safety rating for the road segment on which the vehicle is travelling is not below the predetermined threshold, and
wherein providing the safety rating for the road segment on which the vehicle is travelling to the driver of the vehicle comprises sending, to the GPS device associated with the vehicle, the insurance incentive generated based on the insurance cost associated with travelling on the road segment on which the vehicle is travelling.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one memory stores additional computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the insurance system server to:
determine whether the safety rating for the road segment on which the vehicle is travelling is above a second predetermined threshold;
responsive to determining that the safety rating for the road segment on which the vehicle is travelling is not above the second predetermined threshold, generate information suggesting at least one alternate road segment for the vehicle and transmit, to a device associated with the driver of the vehicle, the information suggesting the at least one alternate road segment for the vehicle; and
responsive to determining that the safety rating for the road segment on which the vehicle is travelling is above the second predetermined threshold, transmit, to the device associated with the driver of the vehicle, information indicating that the safety rating of the road segment on which the vehicle is travelling is above the second predetermined threshold.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the historical data associated with the road segment on which the vehicle is travelling comprises one or more of accident frequency data associated with the road segment on which the vehicle is travelling or traffic volume data associated with the road segment on which the vehicle is travelling.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one memory stores additional computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the insurance system server to:
identify the driver of the vehicle; and
based on identifying the driver of the vehicle, retrieve driving behavior information associated with the driver of the vehicle,
wherein determining the safety rating for the road segment on which the vehicle is travelling is based on the driving behavior information associated with the driver of the vehicle.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein providing the safety rating for the road segment on which the vehicle is travelling to the driver of the vehicle comprises transmitting a notification to a computing device of the driver of the vehicle, the notification comprising the safety rating determined for the road segment on which the vehicle is travelling.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein transmitting the notification to the computing device of the driver of the vehicle comprises transmitting the notification to a mobile device associated with the driver of the vehicle.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein generating the insurance incentive based on the insurance cost associated with travelling on the road segment on which the vehicle is travelling comprises generating a first insurance incentive corresponding to a discount on a premium based on the safety rating determined for the road segment on which the vehicle is travelling.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein generating the insurance incentive based on the insurance cost associated with travelling on the road segment on which the vehicle is travelling comprises generating a second insurance incentive corresponding to an amount of cash reward based on the safety rating determined for the road segment on which the vehicle is travelling.

9. A method comprising:
at an insurance system server comprising at least one processor and at least one memory:
receiving, by the at least one processor of the insurance system server, from a global positioning system (GPS) device associated with a vehicle, while the vehicle is traveling along a road segment, location information identifying a location of the vehicle, wherein the insurance system server is communicatively coupled to the GPS device and a telematics device configured to receive sensor information corresponding to vehicle operation data associated with a vehicle;
determining, by the at least one processor of the insurance system server, based on the location information received from the GPS device associated with the vehicle, the road segment on which the vehicle is travelling;
re

Assignees

• Allstate Insurance Co

Inventors

• Jordan Peters Julie A
• Ferguson Dana
• Madigan Regina
• Mckenna Thomas

Classifications

• G06Q10/0635

  Risk analysis of enterprise or organisation activities · CPC title

• G08G1/096741

  where the source of the transmitted information selects which information to transmit to each vehicle · CPC title

• G07C5/008

  communicating information to a remotely located station (transmission systems for measured values G08C) · CPC title

• G08G1/0129

  for creating historical data or processing based on historical data · CPC title

• G08G1/012

  from other sources than vehicle or roadside beacons, e.g. mobile networks · CPC title