IP Library › Granted Patent US 12,190,736
Granted Patent B2
US 12,190,736 · App. 18/197,970 · Granted Jan 7, 2025

Controlling autonomous vehicles to provide automated emergency response functions

Inventors: Surender Kumar (Palatine, IL); Ryan M. Briggs (Glen Ellyn, IL); Mark V. Slusar (Chicago, IL); Timothy W. Gibson (Barrington, IL)
Assignee: Allstate Insurance Company
G08G1/202G05D1/0088G07C5/008G07C5/02G07C5/0808
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,190,736
App. No.
18/197,970
Granted
Jan 7, 2025
Kind
B2
Abstract

Aspects of the disclosure relate to controlling autonomous vehicles to provide automated emergency response functions. A computing platform may receive vehicle data associated with a vehicle from an on-board vehicle monitoring system associated with the vehicle. Subsequently, the computing platform may detect an occurrence of an emergency at a location. Thereafter, the computing platform may select an autonomous vehicle to respond to the emergency at the location based on autonomous vehicle state information. Then, the computing platform may generate one or more dispatch commands directing the autonomous vehicle to move to the location and execute one or more emergency response functions. Subsequently, the computing platform may send, to an on-board autonomous vehicle control system associated with the autonomous vehicle, the one or more dispatch commands directing the autonomous vehicle to move to the location and execute the one or more emergency response functions.

Claims (58)

1. A computing platform comprising:

at least one processor;

a communication interface communicatively coupled to the at least one processor; and

memory storing computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the computing platform to:

receive, via the communication interface, one or more polling responses from a plurality of autonomous vehicles;

receive, via the communication interface, environmental data from an environmental data computer system;

select at least one autonomous vehicle of the plurality of autonomous vehicles to respond to an incident at a location based on one or more of the one or more polling responses and the environmental data;

generate one or more dispatch commands directing the at least one autonomous vehicle to move to the location; and

send, via the communication interface, the one or more dispatch commands to the at least one autonomous vehicle to cause the at least one autonomous vehicle to move towards the location.

2. The computing platform of claim 1 , wherein the computer-readable instructions further cause the computing platform to:

determine vehicle state information of each of the plurality of autonomous vehicles using the one or more polling responses.

3. The computing platform of claim 1 , wherein the computer-readable instructions further cause the computing platform to:

determine environmental state information using the environmental data.

4. The computing platform of claim 1 , wherein the computer-readable instructions further cause the computing platform to:

determine an additional autonomous vehicle is needed to respond to the incident;

generate one or more additional dispatch commands directing the additional autonomous vehicle to move to the location; and

send, via the communication interface, the one or more additional dispatch commands to the additional autonomous vehicle to cause the additional autonomous vehicle to move towards the location.

5. The computing platform of claim 1 , wherein the computer-readable instructions further cause the computing platform to:

receive incident data from the at least one autonomous vehicle; and

generate an incident report using the incident data.

6. The computing platform of claim 1 , wherein the one or more polling responses include one or more of passenger data identifying one or more passengers in each of the plurality of autonomous vehicles, vehicle telematics data captured from a telematics device associated with each of the plurality of autonomous vehicles, vehicle sensor data captured from each of the plurality of autonomous vehicles, and vehicle position data identifying a position of each of the plurality of autonomous vehicles.

7. The computing platform of claim 1 , wherein the incident is an occurrence of an emergency at the location.

8. The computing platform of claim 7 , wherein the emergency includes one or more of a flood, a hurricane, a natural disaster, and a collision.

9. The computing platform of claim 1 , wherein the environmental data includes one or more of weather conditions at the location, traffic conditions at the location, road closures, and construction conditions.

10. A method comprising:

generating one or more polling requests;

sending the one or more polling requests to a plurality of autonomous vehicles;

receiving one or more polling responses to the one or more polling requests from the plurality of autonomous vehicles;

receiving environmental data from an environmental data computer system;

selecting a first autonomous vehicle of the plurality of autonomous vehicles to respond to an incident at a location based on one or more of the one or more polling responses or the environmental data;

generating one or more dispatch commands directing the first autonomous vehicle to move towards the location; and

sending to the first autonomous vehicle to cause the first autonomous vehicle to move to the location.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising:

determining vehicle state information of the plurality of autonomous vehicles using the one or more polling responses; and

determining environmental state information using the environmental data.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein selecting of the first autonomous vehicle of the plurality of autonomous vehicles to respond to the incident at the location is based on at least one of the vehicle state information or the environmental state information.

13. The method of claim 10 further comprising:

determining a second autonomous vehicle is needed to respond to the incident;

generate one or more second dispatch commands directing the second autonomous vehicle to move to the location; and

sending the one or more second dispatch commands to the second autonomous vehicle to cause the second autonomous vehicle to move to the location.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the one or more polling requests include a request for updated vehicle state information.

15. The method of claim 10 , wherein the one or more polling responses include one or more of passenger data, telematics data, vehicle sensor data, and vehicle position data.

16. The method of claim 10 , wherein the incident is an occurrence of one or more of a flood, a hurricane, a natural disaster, and a collision at the location.

17. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

receiving autonomous vehicle registration information associated with the first autonomous vehicle; and

storing the autonomous vehicle registration information in a vehicle management database.

18. The method of claim 10 , wherein the environmental data includes one or more of weather conditions at the location, traffic conditions at the location, road closures, and construction conditions.

19. The method of claim 10 further comprising:

receiving incident data from the first autonomous vehicle; and

generating an incident report using the incident data.

20. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by a computing platform comprising at least one processor, memory, and a communication interface, cause the computing platform to:

receive one or more polling responses from a plurality of autonomous vehicles;

receive environmental data from an environmental data computer system;

determine vehicle state information of the plurality of autonomous vehicles using the one or more polling responses;

determine environmental state information using the environmental data;

select at least one autonomous vehicle of the plurality of autonomous vehicles to respond to an incident at a location based on at least one of the vehicle state information or the environmental state information;

generate one or more dispatch commands directing the at least one autonomous vehicle to move towards the location; and

send to the at least one autonomous vehicle to cause the at least one autonomous vehicle to move to the location.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jul 6, 2023
From: KUMAR, SURENDER; BRIGGS, RYAN M.; SLUSAR, MARK; GIBSON, TIMOTHY W.
To: ALLSTATE INSURANCE COMPANY
Reel/Frame 064171/0683 →
Continuity (5)
Continuation 17176064 · Feb 15, 2021
Continuation 16529061 · Aug 1, 2019
Continuation 15873316 · Jan 17, 2018
Continuation 15281861 · Sep 30, 2016
Related Publication 20230282114A1 · Sep 7, 2023
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