Patents

US 10618523 B1: Assessing driver ability to operate an autonomous vehicle

Granted
2020-04-14
Filed
2018-04-19 application 15957723
Type
Utility · 19 claims
Elsewhere
Google Patents ↗ · USPTO patent document ↗ · USPTO Patent Center record ↗

Abstract

Human operators of autonomous vehicles may exhibit varying levels of operating proficiencies and may respond differently to changing road conditions or requests from the vehicle to assume more or less control over navigation. A system for assessing driver capability of an autonomous vehicle assesses human operator capabilities in a variety of circumstances to assemble a driving capability profile of the human operator. The autonomous vehicle may rely on the driving capability profile as well as an environmental profile and human operator parameters describing the environment surrounding the vehicle and an alertness level of the human operator, respectively. The vehicle may condition requests to increase or decrease driving responsibilities of the human operator depending on the driving capability profile in combination with the environmental profile and/or the human operator parameters. An insurer may condition an insurance premium cost for a time period based on the driving capability profile in combination with the environmental profile and/or the human operator parameters.

Source: PVGPATDIS, file of 2026-04-10 (ipg200414.xml).

Assignees

AssigneeTypePlaceAlso on furp.orgSource
State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company 2,604 patentsUS company or organizationBloomington, ILSTATE FARM MUTUAL AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE CO Form D issuer FUZZY medium confidence: same name (legal endings aside) and statePVGPATDIS, file of 2026-04-10

Inventors

InventorPlacePatentsPerson pageSource
Brian Mark FieldsNormal, IL287PVGPATDIS, file of 2026-04-10
Leo Nelson ChanNormal, IL94PVGPATDIS, file of 2026-04-10
Kristopher Keith GaudinBloomington, IL129PVGPATDIS, file of 2026-04-10
Aaron WilliamsCongerville, IL73PVGPATDIS, file of 2026-04-10

CPC categories

SubclassCategoryFirst groupSource
B60WConjoint control of vehicle sub-units of different type or different function; control systems specially adapted for hybrid vehicles; road vehicle drive control systems for purposes not related to the control of a particular sub-unitB60W40/09PVGPATDIS, file of 2026-04-10
G06QInformation and communication technology [ict] specially adapted for administrative, commercial, financial, managerial or supervisory purposes; systems or methods specially adapted for administrative, commercial, financial, managerial or supervisory purposes, not otherwise provided forG06Q40/08PVGPATDIS, file of 2026-04-10
G06VImage or video recognition or understandingG06V20/597PVGPATDIS, file of 2026-04-10

Cooperative Patent Classification, as currently assigned (one row per subclass).

Assignments and security interests

RecordedWhatFromToReel/frameSource
2018-06-01Assignment
Assignment of assignor's interest
FIELDS, BRIAN MARK signed 2017-11-15
CHAN, LEO NELSON signed 2018-03-22
GAUDIN, KRISTOPHER KEITH signed 2017-11-15
WILLIAMS, AARON signed 2017-11-15
STATE FARM MUTUAL AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE COMPANY BLOOMINGTON, IL45959/732PASDL, file of 2026-10-15

Documents recorded with the USPTO Assignment Recordation Branch that list this patent. A security interest is a lender’s claim on the patent as collateral; a release ends it.

USPTO bulk data: PatentsView granted patents, disambiguated (PVGPATDIS) for patents, assignees, inventors, places and CPC categories; the USPTO Patent Assignment Dataset (ECORSEXC) for assignments and security interests. Patents filed in the last 20 years. No claims or full text. Links to other records are by name (and state): EXACT means the identical full name and state; FUZZY means a looser name match, with the confidence shown.