Granted Patent B2

US 12,644,720 · App. 18/792,291 · Granted Jun 2, 2026

Inventor: Lu Xu (Canton, MI)

Assignees: TOYOTA MOTOR ENGINEERING & MANUFACTURING NORTH AMERICA, INC.; TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA

G01C21/3469B60K35/28

Abstract

Claims (77)

1 . A system for providing driving insights with alternative power sources, the system comprising:

a driving insights module having a processor; and

a tangible, non-transitory memory configured to communicate with the processor, the tangible, non-transitory memory having instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by the processor, cause the driving insights module to perform operations comprising:

receive a first set of vehicle conditions for an alternative power source vehicle at a first time, the alternative power source vehicle including an alternative power source configured to propel the vehicle in addition to or instead of an internal combustion engine, the first set of vehicle conditions include at least two of a fuel consumption by the vehicle, an average speed of the vehicle, an elevation change of the vehicle, an acceleration of the vehicle, a road roughness, and a towing status;

receive a first fuel consumption database including average fuel consumption values for an internal combustion engine vehicle for a plurality of categories of driving conditions, the plurality of categories including categories based on at least the average speed of the vehicle and the elevation change of the vehicle, the first fuel consumption database having been generated by a server using fuel consumption data received from a plurality of vehicles and organized into the plurality of categories, and transmitted from the server to the driving insights module responsive to a fuel consumption database request from the driving insights module;

calculate a first fuel saving at a first driving segment of a trip based upon the first set of vehicle conditions and the first fuel consumption database, including by determining, from the first fuel consumption database and based on the first set of vehicle conditions, an estimated fuel consumption by the internal combustion engine vehicle during the first driving segment and subtracting an actual fuel consumption of the alternative power source vehicle during the first driving segment from the estimated fuel consumption by the internal combustion engine vehicle;

responsive to detecting an ignition off event:

generate a first fuel savings estimate including an estimated fuel savings for the alternative power source vehicle for the trip; and

output for display the first fuel savings estimate.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions cause the driving insights module to perform further operations comprising:

receive a second set of vehicle conditions for the alternative power source vehicle at a second time, the second set of vehicle conditions including at least two of a second fuel consumption by the vehicle, a second average speed of the vehicle, a second elevation change of the vehicle, a second acceleration of the vehicle, a second road roughness, and a second towing status;

receive a second fuel consumption database; and

calculate a second fuel saving at a second driving segment of the trip based upon the second set of vehicle conditions and the second fuel consumption database;

wherein the generating the first fuel savings estimate includes adding the first fuel saving and the second fuel saving.

3 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the instructions cause the driving insights module to perform further operations comprising:

responsive to detecting the ignition off event:

generate a second fuel savings estimate including a total estimated fuel savings for a life of the vehicle; and

output for display the second fuel savings estimate.

4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the calculating the first fuel saving at the first driving segment of the trip is performed by:

looking up an estimated fuel consumption by an internal combustion engine using the first fuel consumption database based upon the first set of vehicle conditions; and

subtracting an actual fuel consumption of the vehicle during the first driving segment from the estimated fuel consumption by the internal combustion engine.

5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions cause the driving insights module to perform further operations comprising:

send the first fuel savings estimate to a server for aggregation.

6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions cause the driving insights module to perform further operations comprising:

send the first fuel savings estimate to a server for access by a manufacturer of the vehicle.

7 . A vehicle comprising:

an alternative power source configured to propel the vehicle in addition to or instead of an internal combustion engine; and

a driving insights module programmed to:

receive a first set of vehicle conditions for the vehicle at a first time, the first set of vehicle conditions including at least two of a fuel consumption by the vehicle, an average speed of the vehicle, an elevation change of the vehicle, an acceleration of the vehicle, a road roughness, and a towing status;

receive a first fuel consumption database including average fuel consumption values for an internal combustion engine vehicle for a plurality of categories of driving conditions, the plurality of categories including categories based on at least the average speed of the vehicle and the elevation change of the vehicle, the first fuel consumption database having been generated by a server using fuel consumption data received from a plurality of vehicles and organized into the plurality of categories, and transmitted from the server to the driving insights module responsive to a fuel consumption database request from the driving insights module;

calculate a first fuel saving at a first driving segment of a trip based upon the first set of vehicle conditions and the first fuel consumption database, including by determining, from the first fuel consumption database and based on the first set of vehicle conditions, an estimated fuel consumption by the internal combustion engine vehicle during the first driving segment and subtracting an actual fuel consumption of the alternative power source vehicle during the first driving segment from the estimated fuel consumption by the internal combustion engine vehicle;

responsive to detecting an ignition off event:

generate a first fuel savings estimate including an estimated fuel savings for the vehicle for the trip; and

output for display the first fuel savings estimate.

8 . The vehicle of claim 7 , wherein the vehicle is an alternative power source vehicle, and the first fuel savings estimate includes a fuel savings compared to an internal combustion engine vehicle.

9 . The vehicle of claim 7 , wherein the driving insights module is further programmed to:

receive a second set of vehicle conditions at a second time, the second set of vehicle conditions including at least two of a second fuel consumption by the vehicle, a second average speed of the vehicle, a second elevation change of the vehicle, a second acceleration of the vehicle, a second road roughness, and a second towing status;

receive a second fuel consumption database; and

calculate a second fuel saving at a second driving segment of the trip based upon the second set of vehicle conditions and the second fuel consumption database;

wherein the generating the first fuel savings estimate includes adding the first fuel saving and the second fuel saving.

10 . The vehicle of claim 9 , wherein the driving insights module is further programmed to:

responsive to detecting the ignition off event:

generate a second fuel savings estimate including a total estimated fuel savings for a life of the vehicle; and

output for display the second fuel savings estimate.

11 . The vehicle of claim 7 , wherein the calculating the first fuel saving at the first driving segment of the trip is performed by:

looking up an estimated fuel consumption by an internal combustion engine using the first fuel consumption database based upon the first set of vehicle conditions; and

subtracting an actual fuel consumption of the vehicle during the first driving segment from the estimated fuel consumption by the internal combustion engine.

12 . The vehicle of claim 7 , wherein the driving insights module is further programmed to send the first fuel savings estimate to a server for aggregation.

13 . The vehicle of claim 7 , wherein the driving insights module is further programmed to send the first fuel savings estimate to a server for access by a manufacturer of the vehicle.

14 . The vehicle of claim 7 , wherein calculating the first fuel saving comprises determining the first fuel saving repeatedly over a plurality of time intervals during the trip and summing the fuel savings from the plurality of time intervals.

15 . A method comprising:

receiving, by a controller of an alternative power source vehicle that includes an alternative power source configured to propel the vehicle in addition to or instead of an internal combustion engine, a first set of vehicle conditions for the alternative power source vehicle at a first time, the first set of vehicle conditions including at least two of a fuel consumption by the vehicle, an average speed of the vehicle, an elevation change of the vehicle, an acceleration of the vehicle, a road roughness, and a towing status;

receiving, by the controller, a first fuel consumption database including average fuel consumption values for an internal combustion engine vehicle for a plurality of categories of driving conditions, the plurality of categories including categories based on at least the average speed of the vehicle and the elevation change of the vehicle, the first fuel consumption database having been generated by a server using fuel consumption data received from a plurality of vehicles and organized into the plurality of categories, and transmitted from the server to the controller responsive to a fuel consumption database request from the controller;

calculating, by the controller, a first fuel saving at a first driving segment of a trip based upon the first set of vehicle conditions and the first fuel consumption database, including by determining, from the first fuel consumption database and based on the first set of vehicle conditions, an estimated fuel consumption by the internal combustion engine vehicle during the first driving segment and subtracting an actual fuel consumption of the vehicle during the first driving segment from the estimated fuel consumption by the internal combustion engine vehicle;

responsive to detecting an ignition off event:

generating, by the controller, a first fuel savings estimate including an estimated fuel savings for the vehicle for the trip; and

outputting, by the controller, for display the first fuel savings estimate.

16 . The method of claim 15 , further comprising:

receiving, by the controller, a second set of vehicle conditions for the alternative power source at a second time, the second set of vehicle conditions including at least two of a second fuel consumption by the vehicle, a second average speed of the vehicle, a second elevation change of the vehicle, a second acceleration of the vehicle, a second road roughness, and a second towing status;

receiving, by the controller, a second fuel consumption database; and

calculating, by the controller, a second fuel saving at a second driving segment of the trip based upon the second set of vehicle conditions and the second fuel consumption database;

wherein the generating the first fuel savings estimate includes adding the first fuel saving and the second fuel saving.

17 . The method of claim 16 , further comprising:

responsive to detecting the ignition off event:

generating a second fuel savings estimate including a total estimated fuel savings for a life of the vehicle; and

outputting for display the second fuel savings estimate.

18 . The method of claim 15 , further comprising:

looking up an estimated fuel consumption by an internal combustion engine using the first fuel consumption database based upon the first set of vehicle conditions; and

subtracting an actual fuel consumption of the vehicle during the first driving segment from the estimated fuel consumption by the internal combustion engine.

19 . The method of claim 15 , further comprising sending the first fuel savings estimate to the server for at least one of (i) aggregation or (ii) access by a manufacturer of the vehicle.

20 . The method of claim 15 , further comprising:

receiving, by the server, fuel consumption data from a plurality of vehicles;

organizing, by the server, the fuel consumption data into a plurality of categories;

calculating, by the server, an average fuel consumption for each category;

generating, by the server, the first fuel consumption database including the average fuel consumption for each category;

receiving, by the server, the fuel consumption database request from the controller; and

responsive to receiving the fuel consumption database request, sending, by the server, the first fuel consumption database to the controller.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (18)