Determining risk for a user of an autonomous vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12441345-B2
Application number	US-202418613650-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 22, 2024
Priority date	Apr 19, 2018
Publication date	Oct 14, 2025
Grant date	Oct 14, 2025

Abstract

Vehicles may have autonomous capabilities that permit the vehicle to navigate according to varying levels of participation by a human operator. A human operator may be associated with a driving capability profile and the environment surrounding a vehicle may be associated with an environmental risk profile. A vehicle, or another party in communication with a vehicle, may determine whether, based on the human operator's driving capability profile and the environmental risk profile, it is likely that the vehicle will be navigated more safely if there is a change to the vehicle's autonomous capabilities and a corresponding change to the human operator's driving responsibilities. If it is determined that a change in autonomous vehicle capability is likely to increase safe navigation of the vehicle, an insurer may offer an insurance premium cost reduction if the human operator agrees to the proposed change in autonomous capabilities.

First claim

What is claimed:

1. A method of initiating transfer of control of a vehicle, the method comprising:
identifying a human operator of the vehicle, the human operator being associated with a driving capability profile;
determining an alertness level of the human operator based on: (i) an activity level determined from video data of the human operator, and (ii) vehicle accident history;
determining that the vehicle satisfies a control change condition based on the driving capability profile, and the alertness level; and
in response to the determination that the vehicle satisfies the control change condition, initiating transfer of control.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the driving capability profile is based at least in part on a past performance of the human operator in engaging manual control of a vehicle.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the driving capability profile is based at least in part on past performance of the human operator in adverse driving conditions.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the initiating transfer of control includes engaging manual control.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the alertness level is level is further based on biographical data.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the driving capability profile includes a vehicle usage schedule of the human operator including at least one time period of high likelihood of vehicle usage.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein the biographical data includes age or education level of the human operator.

8. The method of claim 5 , wherein the biographical data includes age and education level of the human operator.

9. A system for initiating transfer of control of a vehicle, the system comprising:
an evaluator configured to evaluate a human operator of a vehicle, the evaluator including one or more sensors configured to detect human operator parameters, wherein the evaluator is further configured to determine an alertness level of the human operator based on: (i) the human operator parameters, (ii) an activity level determined from video data of the human operator, and (iii) vehicle accident history; and
a control circuit configured to initiate a change in control of the vehicle based on the alertness level.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the human operator parameters include a vehicle usage schedule of the human operator.

11. The system of claim 9 , wherein the control circuit is further configured to navigate the vehicle to a safe location if the change in control of the vehicle is unsuccessful.

12. The system of claim 9 , wherein:
the evaluator is further configured to use the human operator parameters to determine a driving capability profile of the human operator, and the driving capability profile includes a vehicle usage schedule of the human operator including at least one time period of high likelihood of vehicle usage; and
the control circuit is further configured to initiate the change in control further based on the driving capability profile.

13. The system of claim 9 , wherein the control circuit effects the change in control of the vehicle by displaying a first notification to the human operator, the first notification being based on the human operator parameters.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the control circuit effects the change in control of the vehicle by displaying a second notification, the second notification being different than the first notification and being based on the human operator parameters.

15. The system of claim 9 , wherein the one or more sensors include one or more of a body temperature sensor or a facial recognition sensor.

16. A system comprising:
one or more processors; and
one or more non-transitory memories coupled to the one or more processors;
the one or more non-transitory memories including computer executable instructions stored therein that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform:
identifying a human operator of a vehicle, the human operator being associated with a driving capability profile;
determining an alertness level of the human operator based on: (i) an activity level determined from video data of the human operator, and (ii) vehicle accident history;
determining whether the vehicle satisfies a control change condition based on the driving capability profile, and the alertness level;
transmitting an offer to the human operator if the vehicle satisfies the control change condition, the offer including a reduction to an insurance premium cost if the human operator agrees to a request to initiate a transfer of control to engage manual control of the vehicle; and
if the human operator agrees to the request, initiating transfer of control of the vehicle.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein a magnitude of the reduction to the insurance premium cost if the human operator agrees to a request to initiate a transfer of control of the vehicle is based at least in part on the driving capability profile.

18. The system of claim 16 , wherein the driving capability profile is based at least in part on an intoxication level of the human operator.

19. The system of claim 16 , wherein the driving capability profile includes a vehicle usage schedule of the human operator including at least one time period of high likelihood of vehicle usage.

Assignees

• State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co

Inventors

• Fields Brian Mark
• Chan Leo Nelson
• Gaudin Kristopher Keith
• Williams Aaron

Classifications

• B60W50/14

  Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention · CPC title

• G06Q40/08 Primary

  Insurance · CPC title

• B60W2540/30

  Driving style · CPC title

• G05D1/0088

  characterized by the autonomous decision making process, e.g. artificial intelligence, predefined behaviours (using knowledge based models G06N5/00) · CPC title

• G05D1/0061

  for transition from automatic pilot to manual pilot and vice versa · CPC title