A vehicle control device has a processor configured to determine whether or not a problem exists with the level of active operation by the driver and when there is a problem with the driver, to set a stopping location for the vehicle on a traveling lane and to determine whether or not another traffic lane is adjacent on the side of the stopping location opposite from a passing lane and, when another traffic lane is adjacent, to determine whether or not the stopping location is within a stop avoidance area set in the traveling lane, based on an adjacent start location or an adjacent end location and, when the stopping location is within the stop avoidance area, to generate a stopping plan for stopping of the vehicle at a location between the adjacent start location and the adjacent end location other than in the stop avoidance area.

A driving assistance device to be mounted on a vehicle which is capable of executing automatic steering control is disclosed. The driving assistance device includes a hardware processor connected to a memory. The hardware processor monitors a state of eyes of a driver of the vehicle and an awakening state of the driver. The hardware processor controls output of a predetermined warning to the driver. The warning is output in a case where: the automatic steering control is being executed in the vehicle, the eyes of the driver are closed, and the driver is not in a predetermined awakening state. The warning is not output to the driver in a case where: the automatic steering control is being executed in the vehicle, the eyes of the driver are closed, and the driver is in the predetermined awakening state.

Methods and systems for monitoring use, determining risk, and pricing insurance policies for a vehicle having one or more autonomous or semi-autonomous operation features are provided. According to certain aspects, the operating status of the features, the identity of a vehicle operator, risk levels for operation of the vehicle by the vehicle operator, or damage to the vehicle may be determined based upon sensor or other data. According to further aspects, decisions regarding transferring control between the features and the vehicle operator may be made based upon sensor data and information regarding the vehicle operator. Additional aspects may recommend or install updates to the autonomous operation features based upon determined risk levels. Some aspects may include monitoring transportation infrastructure and communicating information about the infrastructure to vehicles.

A system for notifying emergency services of a vehicular crash may (i) receive sensor data of a vehicular crash from at least one mobile device associated with a user; (ii) generate a scenario model of the vehicular crash based upon the received sensor data; (iii) store the scenario model; and/or (iv) transmit a message to one or more emergency services based upon the scenario model. As a result, the speed and accuracy of deploying emergency services to the vehicular crash location is increased. The system may also utilize vehicle occupant positional data, and internal and external sensor data to detect potential imminent vehicle collisions, take corrective actions, automatically engage autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle features, and/or generate virtual reconstructions of the vehicle collision.

Methods and systems for monitoring use, determining risk, and pricing insurance policies for a vehicle having one or more autonomous or semi-autonomous operation features are provided. According to certain aspects, the operating status of the features, the identity of a vehicle operator, risk levels for operation of the vehicle by the vehicle operator, or damage to the vehicle may be determined based upon sensor or other data. According to further aspects, decisions regarding transferring control between the features and the vehicle operator may be made based upon sensor data and information regarding the vehicle operator. Additional aspects may recommend or install updates to the autonomous operation features based upon determined risk levels. Some aspects may include monitoring transportation infrastructure and communicating information about the infrastructure to vehicles.

Methods and systems for monitoring use, determining risk, and pricing insurance policies for a vehicle having autonomous or semi-autonomous operation features are provided. According to certain aspects, vehicle operation safety may be enhanced. An environmental or weather condition (e.g., hail, storm, wind) may be identified that presents a hazard to an autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle. With the customer's permission, when it is determined that the vehicle is parked in an unprotected location, a protected or covered location to park the vehicle may be identified, a route to that location may be determined, and the vehicle may be directed to travel automatically to the protected location under the operation of autonomous operation features. Insurance discounts or cost savings may be provided to risk averse insurance customers based upon the self-parking functionality that will reduce or mitigate damage to insured vehicles caused by adverse conditions, falling trees or power lines, hail, etc.

Smart car operations provide information or entertainment content for a person by detecting when a person is alone in a car, adjusting a speech recognizer in the car to focus capturing speech from the person's position in the car; playing content in the car as requested by the person; when the person exits the car and enters a building, transferring the speech recognizer from the car to a building speech recognizer along with a current play state of the content; and resuming playing the content on a device in the house on request without interruption.

A system and method for automatically engaging a remote piloting mode in a vehicle is disclosed. The method includes monitoring a driver and switching to the remote piloting mode if an unsafe driving condition is detected. The method can include monitoring biometric data. The method can also include monitoring behavioral data using one or more kinds of vehicle sensors. The system and method ensure vehicles are safely driven even if a driver experiences a health episode that could leave them unable to safely operate the vehicle.

A method may include receiving sensor data of a sensor associated with a vehicle occupied by a user, the sensor data indicating that the vehicle is involved in an accident. The method may further include determining one or more potential injuries sustained by occupants of the vehicle during the accident and transmitting an indication of the one or more injuries to a mobile device of the user. Still further, the method may including prompting the user to provide a response confirming or modifying the one or more potential injuries and updating the one or more potential injuries based on the response. The method may also include generating at least one insurance claim form for the accident based on the one or more potential injuries.

Embodiments of the present invention provide a control system for a vehicle, the vehicle (800) being operable in an at least partly autonomous mode and a manual mode, the control system comprising input means (291, 292) for receiving a gaze signal (211) indicative of a direction of a gaze of an occupant of the vehicle (800), and a contact signal (212) indicative of physical contact between the occupant and a control of the vehicle, control means (250, 260, 270, 280, 290) configured to determine an estimate of the occupant's attention to a driving task in the at least partly autonomous mode in dependence on the gaze signal (211) and to determine when the occupant is at least partly obscured relative to the at least one imaging means (150, 220), wherein the control means (250, 260, 270, 280, 290) is configured to determine the estimate of the occupant's attention to the driving task in dependence on the contact signal when it is determined that the occupant is at least partly obscured.