Method and device for providing advanced indications to a vehicle's driver

1. A method for providing a driver of a vehicle with an advanced indication that one or more road segments being low service level road segments are located along the driver's route, wherein said method comprising:

a) detecting the vehicle's current location and based on the detected location, identifying at least one road segment that said driver is about to reach;

b) for each of said at least one road segment identified, retrieving values of one or more driving performance parameters associated therewith;

c) evaluating whether any of the retrieved values of said one or more driving performance parameters exceeds a pre-defined threshold thereof, and based on that evaluation, determining whether any of the at least one road segment identified, might present a segment of a too low service level; and

d) providing the driver with an advanced indication for any of the at least one road segment which has been determined as being a segment of a too low service level for the driver.

2. A method according to claim 1 , wherein said one or more driving performance parameters are parameters that reflect driving performance of said driver.

3. A method according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of said one or more driving performance parameters is a parameter that reflects said driver's past performance of at least one driving event and/or at least one driving maneuver.

4. A method according to claim 1 , wherein said values of the one or more driving performance parameters associated with a respective road segment are derived by:

a) averaging performance results of a plurality of drivers who had driven that specific road segment; or

b) evaluating potential difficulties associated with that specific road segment and evaluating the driver's own history performance while confronting such difficulties; or

c) any combination of a) and b).

5. A method according to claim 1 , wherein step c comprises:

(i) comparing values of driving performance parameters which characterize the driver's driving performance with pre-defined threshold values of corresponding driving performance parameters associated with the at least one road segment; and

(ii) determining based on said comparison whether the driver should be provided with an indication regarding difficulties existing in a future road segment to be travelled.

6. A method according to claim 1 , wherein said method provided further comprising:

(i) a step of monitoring the driver's performance during a period of time that precedes the provisioning of the advanced indication;

(ii) based on said monitoring step, obtaining a grade for each of a plurality of driving maneuvers taken by the driver; and

(iii) deriving values for at least one of said one or more driving parameters that characterize the driver's performance, based on the step of grading each of a plurality of driving maneuvers taken by the driver.

7. A method according to claim 1 , further comprising a step of monitoring the driver's current driving performance, and wherein the step of determining whether any of the at least one identified road segment might require the attention of said driver, takes into account said current driver's driving performance.

8. A device adapted to be installed in a vehicle and to provide a driver of said vehicle with an advanced indication that one or more road segments identified as low service level segments are located along the driver's route, wherein the device comprising:

I. location means operative to detect the vehicle's current location;

II. transceiver operative to communicate with a remote system and to:

i. provide said remote system with information that relates to the vehicle current location; and

ii. receive values of one or more driving performance parameters associated with at least one road segment that is located along the vehicle's route;

III. processor operative to:

i. evaluate whether any of the received values of the one or more driving performance parameters exceeds a pre-defined threshold thereof; and

ii. based on step a, determine whether any of the at least one road segment located along the vehicle route is identified as a low service level segment; and

IV. indication provisioning means operative to provide the driver with an advanced indication for any of the at least one road segment which has been determined as a segment identified as a low service level segment.

9. A device according to claim 8 , wherein said one or more driving performance parameters is a parameter that reflects the driver's past performance of at least one driving event and/or at least one driving maneuver.

10. A device according to claim 8 , wherein the values of the one or more driving performance parameters associated with a respective road segment are derived by:

a) averaging performance results of a plurality of drivers who had driven that specific road segment; or

b) evaluating potential difficulties associated with that specific road segment and comparing them with the driver's own history performance while confronting such difficulties; or

c) any combination of a) and b).

11. A device according to claim 8 , wherein said processor is further operative to:

(i) compare the values of driving performance parameters which characterize the driver's driving performance, with pre-defined threshold values of corresponding driving performance parameters associated with the at least one road segment; and

(ii) determine based on that comparison whether the driver should be provided with an indication regarding difficulties existing in a future road segment to be travelled.

12. A device according to claim 8 , further comprising monitoring means operative to monitor the driver's performance during a period of time that precedes the provisioning of the advanced indication, and wherein the processor is further operative to grade each of a plurality of driving maneuvers taken by the driver based on information received from said monitoring means and to associate values for at least one of the one or more driving parameters that characterizes the driver's own performance, based on the grades assigned for each of a plurality of driving maneuvers taken by the driver.

13. A computer readable medium storing a computer program for performing a set of instructions to be executed by one or more computer processors, the computer program is adapted to provide a driver of a vehicle with an advanced warning, indicating that one or more road segments that are low service level segments are located along the driver's route, and comprising the steps of:

identify at least one road segment that the driver is about to reach based on the vehicle's current location;

retrieve values of one or more driving performance parameters associated with each of the at least one road segment identified;

evaluate whether any of the retrieved values of the one or more driving performance parameters exceeds a pre-defined threshold thereof and based on that evaluation, determine whether any of the at least one road segment identified is a low service level segment; and

enable providing the driver with an advanced indication for any of the at least one road segment which has been determined as a segment that might require the driver's specific attention.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 13 , wherein the step of determining whether any of the at least one road segment identified is a low service level segment, is carried out with respect to a driving performance of a driver for whom it should be determined whether any of the at least one road segment identified is a low service level segment.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing one or more sequences of instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the steps for providing a driver of a vehicle with an advanced indication that one or more road segments being low service level road segments are located along the driver's route, wherein said steps comprise:

detecting the vehicle's current location and based on the detected location, identifying at least one road segment that said driver is about to reach;

for each of said at least one road segment identified, retrieving values of one or more driving performance parameters associated therewith;

evaluating whether any of the retrieved values of said one or more driving performance parameters exceeds a pre-defined threshold thereof, and based on that evaluation, determining whether any of the at least one road segment identified, might present a segment of a too low service level; and

providing the driver with an advanced indication for any of the at least one road segment which has been determined as being a segment of a too low service level for the driver.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 15 , wherein said one or more driving performance parameters are parameters that reflect driving performance of said driver.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 15 , wherein at least one of said one or more driving performance parameters is a parameter that reflects said driver's past performance of at least one driving event and/or at least one driving maneuver.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 15 , wherein said values of the one or more driving performance parameters associated with a respective road segment are derived by any of: averaging performance results of a plurality of drivers who had driven that specific road segment, evaluating potential difficulties associated with that specific road segment and evaluating the driver's own history performance while confronting such difficulties, and a combination of the averaging performance results of a plurality of drivers who had driven that specific road segment and the evaluating potential difficulties associated with that specific road segment and evaluating the driver's own history performance while confronting such difficulties.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 15 , further comprising additional instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

comparing values of driving performance parameters which characterize the driver's driving performance with pre-defined threshold values of corresponding driving performance parameters associated with the at least one road segment; and

determining based on said comparison whether the driver should be provided with an indication regarding difficulties existing in a future road segment to be travelled.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 15 , further comprising additional instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

monitoring the driver's performance during a period of time that precedes the provisioning of the advanced indication;

based on said monitoring step, obtaining a grade for each of a plurality of driving maneuvers taken by the driver; and

deriving values for at least one of said one or more driving parameters that characterize the driver's performance, based on the step of grading each of a plurality of driving maneuvers taken by the driver.