Patent Application
20230274584
This technology as disclosed herein relates generally to assessment of roadway fees for electric and hybrid-electric vehicles.
During the past century, excise taxes collected by providers of petroleum-based fuels (e.g., gasoline and diesel) and remitted to government authorities have been utilized to build and maintain the roadways and bridges of the United States' transportation infrastructure. With some exceptions (e.g., farming, off-highway business use, certain buses) those federal and state taxes have been considered to be “user fees” for the use of the infrastructure regardless as to whether the fossil fuels were actually consumed on taxpayer funded roadways, on private roadways or for off-road purposes.
With the growing popularity of hybrid-electric and wholly electric vehicles, for which there is no current standard approach to collect roadway usage fees, United States government and state authorities must develop a means of collecting user fees to supplement the taxes collected on petroleum-based fuels. The lack of adequate excise tax collections on electric vehicles combined with the increasing fuel efficiencies of petroleum powered vehicles is placing increasing pressure on the funds available to maintain roadways, bridges, dams and tunnels.
Mechanisms to collect fees have been attempted (including tolling and congestion pricing) and programs to collect usage fees for vehicle miles traveled have been trialed. Tolling and congestion pricing are problematic as solutions depending on whether the territory is densely or sparsely populated. One approach for collecting user fees for vehicle miles traveled has been disclosed in the trial conducted in Oregon, wherein a flat periodic user fee was offered along with an option for a flat usage fee per mile traveled. The per mile approach included the use of a tracking device installed in the vehicle to measure mileage traveled. The usage fee would be paid by credit or debit card. The state of Washington also completed a trial wherein the vehicle owner could either prepay or post-pay based on an odometer reading, with a GPS option to exclude out of state travel from taxation. Other states that have conducted trials include Iowa, Minnesota and Nevada.
The shortcomings of these trials included: a combination of deficiencies in automation, as many of the participants were either required to manually engage in a mileage reporting process or a vehicle owner would be required to utilize a cellular data plan to transmit vehicle mileage to a collection center; the broad based application of usage fees to all mileage driven as opposed to usage fees applied solely to mileage on publicly funded roadways or specifically authorized private thoroughfares; the collection of specific coordinate data for routes traveled (which fosters privacy concerns); a general lack of standardization in the approach to mileage collection across multiple jurisdictions; and an absence of interjurisdictional settlement processes.
There are currently no comprehensive systems to solve these problems and known systems do not incorporate mechanisms to correct these shortcomings. Better apparatuses and/or methods are needed for improving the ability to assess roadway fees for electric and hybrid-electric vehicles; such apparatuses and methods are disclosed herein.
The technology as disclosed herein includes methods and apparatuses for the assessment of electric vehicle usage fees for electric and hybrid-electric vehicles, and, more particularly, to systems and methods that utilize an electric utility's smart grid communication network to assist in the automated assessment of fees attributable to the usage of roadways and waypoints (e.g., bridges, dams, tunnels, etc.) traveled by electric or hybrid-electric vehicles over publicly or privately funded thoroughfares. One implementation(s) of the system and/or method includes and/or utilizes: an electric vehicle with a user interface that has selectable trust level inputs; systems to calculate and store data in a report that includes position information of the electric vehicle, road classes and waypoints travelled, and vehicle and user information. In this implementation(s) the electric vehicle transmits the report through a local area network based on the selected trust level, to a remotely located receiver node.
These systems can further include implementations where the remotely located receiver node comprises an electric utility service provider, or third party, vehicle database and a processor that calculates a usage fee owed to a fee collecting jurisdictional authority. Additionally, the systems can further include implementations wherein an electric utility service provider, or a third party, billing system comprising a further processor that receives usage fee information from a plurality of electric utility service provider, and/or third party, vehicle databases and prepares usage fee remittance advice to one or more fee collecting jurisdictional authority. And, the systems can further comprise implementations wherein at least one fee collecting jurisdictional authority can determine the usage fee to be a tax.
These systems can further include one or more of the following such that the report: comprises a sequence of data that is not encrypted, comprises a sequence of data that is encrypted, is not encrypted and comprises compiled data, and is encrypted and comprises compiled data. These systems can further include implementations wherein the datalogger memory is cleared based on the selected trust level or is cleared by an end of life decommissioning of the vehicle. These systems can further include wherein the remotely located receiver node comprises a wireless transceiver, or the remotely located receiver node comprises a modem, or the electric vehicle communicating node comprises a wireless transceiver, or the electric vehicle communicating node comprises a modem, or the local area network comprises a personal area network or home area network.
These systems can further comprise electric vehicle charging equipment in communication with the electric vehicle, and wherein an electric utility meter is a communicating node that collects charging session information and the datalogger report and transmits both as a table to an electric utility service provider vehicle database, and further comprising a processor that calculates a usage fee owed to a fee collecting jurisdictional authority. And further, these systems can further comprise wherein the electric vehicle charging equipment comprises an embedded local area network node, or be configured whereby the user causes the electric vehicle to store in long-term erasable memory the trust level selection for specific electric vehicle charging equipment by means of the electric vehicle user interface.
Another implementation(s) of the system and/or method includes and/or utilizes methods of: configuring an electric vehicle comprising an electric vehicle user interface having a plurality of selectable trust level inputs; also calculating the geographic position of the electric vehicle and distinguishing road classes and waypoints with a navigation system that is in communication with a datalogger; additionally storing information comprising vehicle information and user information with an electronic control unit that is in communication with the datalogger; further creating a report with the datalogger based on a selected trust level that comprises vehicle information and user information retrieved from the electronic control unit, and information from the navigation system comprising mileage traveled by road classes and waypoints; and finally transmitting the report based on the selected trust level to a local area network comprising a plurality of communicating nodes, wherein the electric vehicle is a communicating node that transmits the report, and wherein a remotely located receiver node is a communicating node that receives the report based on the selected trust level.
These methods can further comprise including one or more of the following such that the report: comprises a sequence of data that is not encrypted, comprises a sequence of data that is encrypted, is not encrypted and comprises compiled data, and is encrypted and comprises compiled data.
These methods can further comprise calculating a usage fee owed to one or more fee collecting jurisdictional authority, issuing a usage fee billing to a vehicle user, and collecting a usage fee from a vehicle user. Moreover, these methods can further comprise remitting the collected usage fee: directly to a fee collecting jurisdictional authority, to an authorized third party settlement agency, to an electric utility service provider, or to an electric utility service provider that further remits the collected usage fee to a fee collecting jurisdictional authority or other authorized third party. These methods can further comprise wherein at least one fee collecting jurisdictional authority determines the usage fee to be a tax.
These methods can further comprise wherein the datalogger memory is cleared based on the selected trust level or is cleared by an end of life decommissioning of the vehicle.
These methods can further comprise wherein the remotely located receiver node comprises a wireless transceiver, the remotely located receiver node comprises a modem, the electric vehicle communicating node comprises a wireless transceiver, the electric vehicle communicating node comprises a modem, or the local area network comprises a personal area network or home area network. Alternatively or additionally these methods can further comprise charging the electric vehicle, collecting charging session information and the datalogger report and transmitting both to an electric utility service provider that is a communicating node. Also these methods can further comprise storing the trust level selection for specific electric vehicle charging equipment by means of the electric vehicle user interface.
Apparatuses and methods for assessment of roadway fees for electric and hybrid-electric vehicles. Exemplary embodiments address automated systems of assessing fees charged for roadway and waypoint usage as applied to vehicle mileage traveled over functionally classified thoroughfares, collection of usage charges, settlement of payments to jurisdictional authorities, and/or periodic reconciliation of vehicle mileage traveled. The embodiments include user selected charging session trust level settings for privacy protection and usage data collection processes such that time stamps and specific routes traveled are not to be provided or accessed by any party other than the vehicle owner or lessee absent their express permission. A roadway and waypoint usage report generated one implementation(s) is transmitted to an electric utility by means of the utility's smart grid network. Fees in one implementation(s) are calculated by the utility and said fees and any prepaid credits in one implementation(s) are included in the utility service billing.
The technology as disclosed herein includes methods and apparatuses for the assessment of roadway fees for electric and hybrid-electric vehicles, and, more particularly, to systems and methods that utilize an electric utility's smart grid communication network to assist in the automated assessment of fees attributable to the usage of roadways and waypoints (e.g., bridges, dams, tunnels, etc.) traveled by electric or hybrid-electric vehicles over publicly or privately funded thoroughfares. One implementation of the system and/or method includes and/or utilizes: a specific apparatus within the vehicle, the availability of advanced external vehicle charging equipment, and two-way communications capabilities between the vehicle and the electric utility service provider. The system operation provides methods to identify the respective jurisdiction where roadways and waypoints have been utilized, enabling usage fees to be calculated based upon the jurisdiction and class of roadway or waypoint traversed, while maintaining vehicle user privacy with respect to public routes utilized or public locations visited. Also provided herein are systems and methods for collecting usage fees from electric or hybrid-electric vehicle owners or lessees through periodic utility billings, and for subsequently calculating settlement amounts and efficiently effecting usage fee distributions across multiple jurisdictions by utility companies or their authorized agents.
In one implementation, a computer-implemented method comprises an operator determination that specific electric vehicle charging equipment and related communications apparatus are highly trustworthy leading to confidence in securely transmitting private operator information. In this state an electric vehicle is programmed to automatically prepare an optionally encrypted file containing vehicle, operator and operator's electric utility company identifying information along with vehicle mileage traveled information categorized by each of (a) roadway class and waypoint type and (b) fee collecting jurisdiction where said mileage was traveled. Further, the computer-implemented method calculates the fees owed by the operator to the fee collecting jurisdictions to be automatically billed to the operator through the operator's periodic electric utility company billing. Still further, the computer-implemented method comprises determining, with the one or more processors, settlement obligations between electric utility companies and fee collecting jurisdiction authorities and procedures for efficient payment. Still further, the computer-implemented method encompasses the use of one or more third party processing entity to perform processing, data storage and settlement services as agent to one or more electric utility company.
In another implementation, a computer-implemented method comprises an operator determination that specific electric vehicle charging equipment and related communications apparatus are moderately trustworthy leading to confidence in securely transmitting limited operator information. In this state an electric vehicle is programmed to automatically prepare an encrypted file containing vehicle, operator and operator's electric utility company identifying information but excludes vehicle mileage traveled information. The computer-implemented method initiates a transmission of the vehicle, operator and operator's electric utility company identifying information to the electric utility company that provides service to the specific electric vehicle charging equipment and a deferred billing is initiated for the electricity transferred to the electric vehicle (and any processing fee) to be collected by the operator's electric utility company in a subsequent billing. Further, the computer-implemented method comprises determining, with the one or more processors, settlement obligations between electric utility companies and fee collecting jurisdiction authorities and procedures for efficient payment. Still further, the computer-implemented method encompasses the use of one or more third party processing entity to perform processing, data storage and settlement services as agent to one or more electric utility company.
In still another implementation, a computer-implemented method comprises an operator determination that specific electric vehicle charging equipment and related communications apparatus are not trustworthy leading to a complete lack of confidence in securely transmitting operator information. In this state an electric vehicle is programmed to automatically transmit vehicle identification information and payment method including credit, debit or prepaid mechanisms. No other identifying information is provided and no vehicle mileage traveled information is transmitted. In one implementation(s), the computer-implemented method utilizes the specific electric vehicle charging equipment and related communications apparatus to transmit a receipt to each of the electric vehicle charging equipment host electric utility company and to the electric vehicle itself for temporary storage in an acceptable file format that contains the identification of the electric vehicle charging equipment, the value of the electricity transferred and the amount of respective prepaid tax. Further, the computer-implemented method comprises an automated transmission of the receipt from the vehicle to the operator's electric utility company upon the occurrence of a subsequent highly trustworthy charging session enabling a credit to be confirmed relative to the prepaid tax. The computer-implemented method optionally further comprises a registry of vehicle identification numbers and the associated vehicle operator's corresponding primary electric utility company being made available to electric utility companies thereby allowing the forwarding of the receipt provided by the electric vehicle charging equipment to its host electric utility company that includes the vehicle identification number to the electric vehicle operator's electric utility company to provide a second source of evidence in support of the amount of the prepaid tax. Still further, the computer-implemented method comprises determining, with the one or more processors, settlement obligations between electric utility companies and fee collecting jurisdiction authorities and procedures for efficient allocation or apportionment of prepaid tax. Still further, the computer-implemented method encompasses the use of one or more third party processing entity to perform processing, data storage and settlement services as agent to one or more electric utility company.
The computer-implemented method includes a reconciliation process for comparing an odometer reading to the cumulative mileage reported by the automated usage fee system to occur during the electric vehicle periodic safety inspection to be conducted by an authorized state service facility.
In a further implementation(s) of the system and/or method includes and/or utilizes systems of settling electric vehicle usage fees between electric utility service providers and jurisdictional authorities. These systems comprise: a means of communication for an authorized party to digitally and securely collect electric vehicle user information from an electric utility service provider; an authorized third party database that collects electric vehicle user information and thoroughfare usage attributable to discrete jurisdictions traveled from a plurality of electric utility service provider databases; an authorized third party processor that determines the amount of usage fees to be billed to an individual electric vehicle user; a further authorized third party processor that determines the collective usage fees attributable to one or more electric vehicle user to be collected by an electric utility service provider that will be remitted to a jurisdictional authority for a defined billing period; a means of communication allowing the authorized third party to transmit the remittance calculations to one or more electric utility service provider for inclusion in the electric vehicle user periodic billing; a further authorized third party processor that calculates remittance amounts owed between jurisdictional authorities and prepares a usage fee remittance advice to a fee collecting jurisdictional authority; an authorized third party collection and remittance processor that facilitates payment received from an electric utility service provider and transmits monetary sums to one or more jurisdictional authority; an authorized third party collection and remittance processor that facilitates payment received from a jurisdictional authority and transmits monetary sums to one or more jurisdictional authority.
These systems can further comprise wherein the authorized third party database collects billing determinants and usage information, computes electric vehicle user fees owed to one or more private entity attributable to said users travel over respective private thoroughfare, communicates with utility service providers to enable collection of usage fees from one or more electric vehicle user, provides periodic reports to one or more private entity, facilitates collection of payment from one or more utility service provider and transmits payment to one or more private entity.
The features, functions, and advantages that have been discussed can be achieved independently in various implementations or can be combined in yet other implementations, further details of which can be seen with reference to the following description and drawings.
These and other advantageous features of the present technology as disclosed will be in part apparent and in part pointed out herein below.
For a better understanding of the present technology as disclosed, reference can be made to the accompanying drawings in which:
The diagram in
While the technology as disclosed is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific implementations thereof are shown by way of example in the drawings and will herein be described in detail. It will be understood, however, that the drawings and detailed description presented herein are not intended to limit the disclosure to the particular implementations as disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the scope of the present technology as disclosed and as defined by the appended claims.
“HEVs” means electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid-electric vehicles, collectively. Additionally, the term “electric vehicle” generally refers to both electric and hybrid-electric vehicles, but can also refer to either individually or collectively.
“SHEVC” means Smart HEV Charger.
“TSHEVCs” means trusted SHEVCs.
“AT2P3S” means authorized third party processing/settlement/storage service.
“VOPEUSP” means vehicle owner's/lessee's primary electric utility service provider.
“VMT” means Vehicle Miles Traveled.
“VMT Meter Module” means a device deployed to accept GPS data which will be converted into a secure report that identifies the roadway classes and key waypoints traveled by an HEV. The latitude and longitude coordinates that are generated by the GPS receiver and transferred to temporary memory within the data logger for processing (within the HEV) by the VMT Meter Module can be summarized in a report generated by the VMT Meter Module that includes information sufficient to calculate VMT use fees. There are a variety of mediums which are utilized to accomplish the task of transmitting the report, including wired and wireless options.
“V2X” means Vehicle-to-X. “[T]he concept of vehicle-to-X (V2X), which transmits electricity from an on-board battery to infrastructure, is expected to be a key to smart grids. With V2X technology, we can use electricity stored in large-capacity batteries of electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid-electric vehicles (PHEVs) when necessary.” (https://global-sei.com/technology/tr/bn79/pdf/79-08.pdf). Further “V2X” is a collective term for vehicle to live (V2L), vehicle to home (V2H) and vehicle to grid (V2G). Id.
An “event” as used herein can refer to an end of life decommissioning of the vehicle.
“Fee collecting jurisdictional authority” refers to a fee collecting authority (whether public utility, private, or hybrid) for either, or both, travel over a publicly funded thoroughfare(s) and travel over a privately funded thoroughfare; a “fee collecting jurisdictional authority” refers to any and all possible combinations, such combinations being either inclusive or exclusive, of local, state, or federal department(s) of revenue or private subdivision for vehicular travel; it is understood that the term “fee collecting jurisdictional authority” encapsulates both government agencies and private roadway authorities.
“Third party vehicle database” or “third party billing system” refer to a vehicle database or billing system of any third party that is not directly a fee collecting jurisdictional authority.
“Remotely located receiver node” refers to a node connected through either wired (e.g. modem and powerline) or wireless (e.g. transceiver) connection, or a combination of two or more such connections that is outside of the confines of the HEV.
“Electric meter table” refers to transmission tables for electric utility providers that are commonly referred to as “Tucker Tables” or ANSI C19.12 data tables.
“Waypoint” means the geolocation of any bridge, dam, tunnel or other specially designated passageway or thoroughfare that may involve a specific surcharge for its usage.
“Trackpoint(s)” includes common usage defining a track formed by connecting the points with lines and the “track” would represent the road, trail, path, etc. that you followed (more information may be found at https://gpsmap.net/DefiningPoints.html).
Implementation(s) of the invention are discussed below with reference to the Figures. However, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that the detailed description given herein with respect to these figures is for explanatory purposes as the invention extends beyond these limited implementations. For example, it will be appreciated that those skilled in the art will, in light of the teachings of the present invention, recognize a multiplicity of alternate and suitable approaches, depending upon the needs of the particular application, to implement the functionality of any given detail described herein, beyond the particular implementation choices described and shown. That is, there are modifications and variations of the invention that are too numerous to be listed but that all fit within the scope of the invention.
Singular words should be read as plural and vice versa and masculine as feminine and vice versa, where appropriate, and alternative implementations do not necessarily imply that the two are mutually exclusive. It is to be further understood that the present invention is not limited to the particular methodology, material, use, or application described herein, as these can vary. It is also to be understood that the terminology used herein is used for the purpose of describing particular implementations and embodiments only, and is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention.
It must be noted that as used herein and in the appended claims, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” include the plural reference unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Thus, for example, a reference to “an element” is a reference to one or more elements and includes equivalents thereof known to those skilled in the art. Similarly, for another example, a reference to “a step” or “a means” is a reference to one or more steps or means and can include sub-steps and subservient means. All conjunctions used are to be understood in the most inclusive sense possible. Thus, the word “or” should be understood as having the definition of a logical “or” rather than that of a logical “exclusive or” unless the context clearly necessitates otherwise. Structures described herein are to be understood also to refer to functional equivalents of such structures. Language that can be construed to express approximation should be so understood unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.
It will be further understood that use of the word “can” and/or “may” will be understood to refer to the active, and enabling, dictionary meanings of “is able,” “be able”, “to know,” “be able to through acquired knowledge or skill,” “to know how to do something,” and/or “to have the ability to do something”; and not understood to intend a sense of “maybe” or permissiveness.
Reference in the specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment”; “one implementation” or “an implementation” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment or implementation is included in at least one embodiment or implementation of the invention. The appearances of the phrase “in one embodiment,” or “in an embodiment,” or “in one implementation,” or “in an implementation” in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment or the same implementation, nor are separate or alternative embodiments or implementations mutually exclusive of other embodiments or implementations.
According to the implementation(s) of the present technology as disclosed, various views are illustrated in
Apparatuses and methods are provided for a system of automated assessment of VMT usage fees. As described in detail herein, in one implementation associated electronic data is acquired from a plurality of sensors (e.g., antennae), sources (e.g., a vehicle electronic control unit or a navigation system), and user inputs. The electronic data is collected by a datalogger in accordance with a software or firmware program. The electronic data includes, for example, any one of, all of, or any sub-combination of information stored by an electronic control unit (such as the vehicle identification number and the odometer value) and user inputs including the vehicle owner's (or lessee's) primary electric utility service provider unique identifier and the vehicle owner's (or lessee's) specific account number assigned by the primary electric utility service provider, trust level preference encryption keys associated with certain electric vehicle charging equipment, credentials for electricity purchase prepayment methods, and navigation system roadway class tags and waypoint tags for purposes of roadway class VMT distance accumulators, etc.
As further described in detail herein, in one implementation(s) electronic data and/or correlated electronic data is stored in, and/or transmitted from, a vehicle datalogger to a communicating electric utility meter either directly by wireless means or indirectly through the electric vehicle charging equipment. As yet further described in detail herein, an encrypted file containing information in a format designed to protect vehicle owner (or lessee) privacy (i.e., a roadway classes traveled summary and waypoints (e.g., bridge, dam, tunnel) traversed summary for each taxing jurisdiction) is produced that includes the vehicle identification number, unique electric utility identifier and electric vehicle owner's/lessee's electric utility account number, along with information concerning taxes paid relative to prepaid electricity purchases. Vehicle owner's/lessee's privacy exceptions are described for travel over private thoroughfares.
Details are provided herein relating to the calculation of roadway class and waypoint usage fees, inter-utility account settlements, issuance of credits for usage taxes collected on prepaid electricity purchases, collection of usage fees from vehicle owners/lessees (net of any prepaid usage tax), payments of collected usage fees to appropriate government authorities, payments of collected usage fees to private thoroughfare custodians, storage of summary information relating to VMT on the basis of the vehicle identification number, and usage of an authorized third party processor, settlement and storage service provider.
Turning to
With reference to
Turning to
With reference to
Turning to
In the event that the ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING EQUIPMENT 305 of
The vehicle owner/lessee will then utilize the QWERTY KEYBOARD 515 to select a USER ID 510 and PASSWORD 520, at which point the vehicle owner/lessee in one implementation(s) elects to SAVE 545 the selections before proceeding to the NEXT 530 screen or returning to the HOME 525 screen.
With reference to
The implementation continues with a string that identifies the structure of the mileage data to be transmitted, STRING 910, which will include identification of the road class traveled by country, state, county, municipality, private roadways, other (including off-road, parking lots, parking garages, ferries, etc.) and the respective mileage of each, and the waypoints (bridges, dams, tunnels, and other special purpose areas that can be charged a premium for usage) and the respective mileage traversed over or through such waypoints. DATA LINE 911, in this implementation, indicates the road class of a Federal Interstate (MO1) within the state of Missouri driven for 120.3 miles with associated bridges (B) totaling 1.1 miles have been traveled since the most recent TL1 charging session. DATA LINE 912 indicates the road class of a State Highway (MO2) within the state of Missouri driven for 30.7 miles with associated bridges (B) totaling 0.7 miles have been traveled since the most recent TL1 charging session. DATA LINE 913 indicates the road class of a paved County Highway in St. Louis County, M0 (STL1) driven for 10.1 miles with associated bridges (B) totaling 0.1 miles have been traveled since the most recent TL1 charging session. DATA LINE 914 indicates the road class of a paved roadway in the city of Ferguson, Mo. (F7) driven for 22.8 miles with associated bridges (B) totaling 0.1 miles have been traveled since the most recent TL1 charging session. DATA LINE 915 indicates the road class of a paved roadway in the city of Clayton, Mo. (C3) driven for 7.2 miles with associated bridges (B) totaling 0.2 miles have been traveled since the most recent TL1 charging session. DATA LINE 916 indicates the road class of a paved roadway in the private subdivision of Ferguson Estates Drive (FE7) driven for 19.3 miles with associated bridges (B) totaling 0.0 miles have been traveled since the most recent TL1 charging session. DATA LINE 917 indicates the road class of “other” (off-road, parking lots, etc.) in St. Louis County, Mo. for 7.2 miles with associated bridges (B) totaling 0.0 miles have been traveled since the most recent TL1 charging session. DATA LINE 918, in this implementation, indicates the road class of a Federal Interstate (IL1) within the state of Illinois driven for 15.5 miles with associated bridges (B) totaling 0.5 miles have been traveled since the most recent TL1 charging session. DATA LINE 919 indicates the road class of a State Highway (IL2) within the state of Illinois driven for 7.6 miles with associated bridges (B) totaling 0.3 miles have been traveled since the most recent TL1 charging session. DATA LINE 920 indicates the road class of a paved County Highway in St. Clair County, Ill. (STC1) driven for 5.3 miles with associated bridges (B) totaling 0.2 miles have been traveled since the most recent TL1 charging session. DATA LINE 921 indicates the road class of a paved roadway in the city of Cahokia, Ill. (F7) driven for 9.4 miles with associated bridges (B) totaling 0.1 miles have been traveled since the most recent TL1 charging session. DATA LINE 922 indicates the road class of “other” (off-road, parking lots, etc.) in St. Clair County, Ill. for 1.4 miles with associated bridges (B) totaling 0.0 miles have been traveled since the most recent TL1 charging session.
The aforementioned information describe in
With reference to
At the conclusion of the TL2 charging session, the COMMUNICATING ELECTRIC UTILITY METER 310 of
With reference to
At the conclusion of the TL3 charging session, the COMMUNICATING ELECTRIC UTILITY METER 310 of
The communications architecture presented within
The communication path from the COMMUNICATING ELECTRIC UTILITY METER 310 of
As described in
The ELECTRIC VEHICLE 100 of
Proceeding with
A FILE 150 of
A COMMUNICATING ELECTRIC UTILITY METER 310 of
Upon receipt of FILE 150 of
Included in
Turning to
With reference to
Upon the described TL1 charging session, the ELECTRIC VEHICLE of
The files transmitted to the AUTHORIZED THIRD PARTY PROCESSOR, SETTLEMENT AND STORAGE SERVICE PROVIDER 1710 of
After settlement of the interjurisdictional usage fee obligations (including the netting of credits), the AUTHORIZED THIRD PARTY PROCESSOR, SETTLEMENT AND STORAGE SERVICE PROVIDER 1710 of
With reference to
With reference to
Numerous modifications to the apparatuses, systems, and methods disclosed herein will be apparent to those skilled in the art in view of the foregoing description. Accordingly, this description is to be construed as illustrative only, and is presented for the purpose of enabling those skilled in the art to make and use the invention and to teach the one implementation(s) of the mode of carrying out same. The exclusive rights to all modifications within the scope of the disclosure and the appended claims are reserved.
The following References are provided hereby as sources of background information only; such references are neither acknowledged as nor intended to be either prior art or limiting to patentability of the invention disclosed herein:
The various implementations and examples shown herein illustrate methods and systems for assessment of roadway fees for electric and hybrid-electric vehicles. A user of the present methods and systems can choose any of the indicated implementations, or equivalents thereof, depending upon the desired application. In this regard, it is recognized that various forms of the subject assessment of roadway fees for electric and hybrid-electric vehicles methods and systems could be utilized without departing from the scope of the present technology and various implementations as disclosed.
As is evident from the foregoing description, certain aspects of the present implementation are not limited by the particular details of the examples illustrated herein, and it is therefore understood that other modifications and applications, or equivalents thereof, will be apparent to those skilled in the art. It is accordingly intended that the claims shall cover all such modifications and applications that do not depart from the scope of the present implementation(s). Accordingly, the specification and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.
As is evident from the foregoing and subsequent descriptions, certain aspects of the present technology as disclosed are not limited by the particular details of the examples illustrated herein, and it is therefore understood that other modifications and applications, or equivalents thereof, will occur to those skilled in the art. It is accordingly intended that the claims shall cover all such modifications and applications that do not depart from the scope of the present technology as disclosed and claimed.
Other aspects, objects and advantages of the present technology as disclosed can be obtained from a study of the drawings, the disclosure and the appended claims.
Charging Sessions
The VMT fee system will in one implementation(s) utilize a trusted SHEVC system in order to (a) collect private travel information from a vehicle's VMT Meter Module, and (b) facilitate the transference of information to the “head-end” for both use tax/fees due and credits available (from sales taxes paid during “non-trusted” charging sessions AND from credits attributable to any “vehicle-to-grid” discharges).
In one implementation(s), the HEV owner selects a level of “trust” relative to the TSHEVC used as his or her primary charger. This would generally be “Trust Level 1” (TL1) for the home charger (for a home owner), but could also be a dedicated trusted charger at an apartment complex, condominium association, townhomes, etc., or at his or her place of employment. A TL1 TSHEVC in one implementation(s) is also selected as the business owner's charger setting for his or her business vehicle(s), whether a single vehicle or a fleet. A TL1 TSHEVC in one implementation(s) represents a dedicated charger available to taxis or ride-share vehicles (including autonomous vehicles) where privacy is valued at a premium. A TL1 TSHEVC would be authorized to forward the trip report results to the head-end for eventual storage in the cloud. Every HEV, in one implementation(s), has at least one designated TL1 TSHEVC for processing at least annually.
A “Trust Level 2” (TL2) TSHEVC would be a charger where the vehicle owner is unwilling to share any private information with the charging station other than a VIN, the identity of the primary VOPEUSP and the VOPEUSP Account Number (for purposes of billing relating to the purchase of electricity and a respective sales tax). In this case, the amount of electricity consumed (to be added to the owner's next bill) along with the amount of sales tax collected would be shared with the TL2 charger's “head-end” utility service provider, so that the charges can be pursued with the vehicle owner's primary electric utility. Note that if the TL2 TSHEVC is located in a service territory other than the VOPEUSP, the utility that provides energy to the TL2 charger would be entitled to collect a sales tax, which would be collected from the vehicle owner's utility service provider at the end of the billing cycle, regardless as to whether the HEV owner has engaged in a TL1 charging session before the conclusion of the billing cycle.
The lowest level of trust, or “Trust Level 3” (TL3), would be a scenario where the vehicle owner would prefer to share no personal information but, rather, would prefer to purchase a charging session on a prepayment basis (both for electricity and sales tax) by use of a credit or debit card, PayPal or the like. In one implementation(s), the vehicle owner submits a receipt showing tax paid relative to the purchase of the electricity to the utility service provider so that a credit in one implementation(s) is processed on a future bill.
The following table summarizes the expected options with respect to the selection of the Level of Trust based upon privacy tolerances:
The vehicle owner who would desire the highest level of privacy protection would choose to entrust a dedicated TL1 TSHEVC that utilizes a powerline communication technology as the medium for transmitting a VMT report to the utility head-end to address the “air gap” issue. This would be the safest way to protect against an unauthorized person gaining access to the VIN and associated Utility Account information. Let's pause for a moment to discuss the disclosed process for charging the HEV owner for VMT usage fees. There are many use cases that should be considered, but for now we will consider one implementation of a new (or used) electric vehicle being purchased by an individual who will be installing a new SHEVC in his or her home garage:
In this scenario [where a new/used HEV and new/used SHEVC are placed into service simultaneously, and the SHEVC is selected as a dedicated TL1 TSHEVC at the residential location] the process is understood as follows:
The third-party will demonstrate (at a minimum) that it is qualified by being able to:
Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) refers to a system that measures, collects, and analyzes energy usage, communicates with metering devices (in this report, electricity meters or “smart meters”) either on request or on a schedule. These systems include hardware, software, communications, consumer energy displays and controllers, customer associated systems, meter data management software, and supplier business systems.
Automatic meter reading (AMR) is the technology of automatically collecting consumption, diagnostic, and status data from electric energy metering devices and transferring that data to a central database for billing, troubleshooting, and analyzing.
Originally, AMR devices just collected meter readings electronically and matched them with accounts. As technology has advanced, additional data could then be captured, stored, and transmitted to the utility head-end for processing. Generally, the data in an AMR meter is collected by drive-by or walk-by methods, but short-hop approaches are also sometimes employed so that the metering devices can be accessed remotely. Data from the meter can include event alarms such as tamper, leak detection, low battery, or reverse flow. Many AMR devices can also capture interval data, and log meter events. The logged data can be used to collect or control time of use data that can be used for energy usage profiling, time of use billing, demand forecasting, demand response, remote shutoff, etc. AMI represents the networking technology of fixed network meter systems that go beyond AMR into remote utility management. The meters in an AMI system are often referred to as smart meters, since they often can use collected data based on programmed logic.
For instance, a wireless approach to engaging a TSHEVC as a node on a home area network can include a utility (such as Duke Energy) that has a deployment of Itron's Silver Spring network that includes smart meters with home area network capabilities which communicate via the Zigbee protocol.
In this step, the installer initiates a node notification request (via the home area network or by phone, etc.) and a response is provided that the head-end has received the request, along with an SHEVC asset tag, serial number, or some other designated form of charger identification.
In one implementation(s), the information that is collected and transmitted by the HEV VMT Meter Module would include the following:
Trust Level 1 Charging Session
Trust Level 2 Charging Session
Trust Level 3 Charging Session
Medium of Data Transmittal
In one implementation, in the case of a VMT User Fee System, an architecture includes a “trusted” remote stationary computer (within the SHEVC) that collects the “roadway class /waypoint/odometer data report” which is generated by the vehicle's VMT Meter Module and transmitted to said SHEVC; which SHEVC further transmits the report (without further processing) to the utility head-end; which utility head-end subsequently transmits the report to an AT2P3S for final VMT fee calculations and settlement processing.
The adjective “trusted” can be important. The vehicle owner in one implementation(s) decides to enable one or more SHEVCs to be authorized to have access to his or her travel report and to forward the report to the utility so that the utility in one implementation(s) calculates use fees (e.g., a charger at home, a charger at work, a charger at a family members house, etc.) depending upon the vehicle owner's confidence that the SHEVC will protect his or her privacy (in terms of the information in the transmitted report); or alternatively, the owner in one implementation(s) is not overly concerned about their summary travel report becoming publicly known and so every SHEVC could be considered as “trusted”. However, the architecture in one implementation(s) is designed to offer maximum protection to those who insist on privacy, and so security measures in one implementation(s) are disclosed.
As previously discussed, GPS Tracking devices are capable of transmitting data wirelessly (using cellular plans, private radio networks and local area networks (WiFi and Bluetooth, for example). GPS receiver units in one implementation(s) are also be connected with cables to computer ports to directly download the travel report(s).
Ideally, in order to protect the privacy of an electric vehicle owner/lessee, steps will be taken to ensure that the transference of the travel report(s) (which contain VIN #, Utility Service Provider Name and Account Number) will not be accessed by unauthorized persons. In order to accomplish that goal, we in one implementation(s) start with the concept of an “air-gapped” system.
HEV Transmission of the VMT Report
As noted, in one implementation(s), a VMT use system will allow the vehicle to provide certain data relative to miles traveled over specific classes of roads (including special waypoints such as bridges and tunnels). Ideally the information will be processed within the vehicle and summarized in a standardized report in the form of a text file by the VMT Meter Module, and then transmitted to an authorized remote processor, to or through an SHEVC, so that (official) VMT fees can be calculated. Of course, since the standardized text file will contain certain identifying information (the VIN, utility and account number), the vehicle owner in one implementation(s) has confidence that the SHEVC will protect the information that is being transferred from a potential invasion of privacy. A starting point for protecting privacy would be in one implementation(s) to specifically designate only select SHEVCs as “trusted” chargers (“TSHEVCs”).
For example, a vehicle owner's home charger in one implementation(s) is designated as a TSHEVC. An SHEVC at the vehicle owner's place of employment in one implementation(s) is also designated as a TSHEVC (should the owner so desire), whereas a charger in a public parking location in one implementation(s) is not considered to be safe for purposes of sharing the travel report.
It is the TSHEVC that would receive the report of information collected by the vehicle since the occurrence of the last trusted charging session, such information report to specifically include the following:
The desired/sufficient information is likely to be stored within or generated by various ECUs in the vehicle (i.e., the VIN within the Engine Control Unit; the Odometer within the Instrument Panel Cluster; the navigation trackpoints and waypoints from the Infotainment network). Currently, the VIN and Odometer readings would appear to be best accessed via the CAN bus, whereas the navigation coordinates would likely be accessed via the MOST or Ethernet network; or, could be accessed via the Central Gateway.
Payment Methods
In one implementation of the HEV Use Fee Collection System, the HEV owner engages in a trust level 1 (TL1) charging session, following which the HEV owner's VOPEUSP will bill the HEV owner for usage fees after the reporting of “taxable” VMT. This post-energy use payment in one implementation(s) is accomplished through any of the available options generally available, including a check, an on-line banking transfer (a debit), a credit card charge, etc. An implementation also includes the TL2 charging option, whereby energy purchases from SHEVCs in one implementation(s) are deferred (which can entail a fee) and billed though the monthly VOPEUSP statement.
TL3 payments, however, are of the nature that payment for the energy transferred along with a prepaid sales tax occurs at the time of the charging session. The payment in one implementation(s) is accomplished via an HEV owner's debit or credit card, a Paypal or similar account, or (for maximum obscurity) a prepaid debit card.
New payment methods in one implementation(s) are also established, such as VOPEUSP issued credit cards or prepaid tokens similar to the method that TouchTunes utilizes for its online juke-box entertainment app (http://api.mytouchtunes.com/mobile-faq). In this scenario, an HEV owner in one implementation(s) purchases credits that are stored in an HEV ECU memory or a smart phone, which devices are to be synced to an SHEVC and which credits are used to pay for energy transferences from TL3 SHEVCs during charging sessions.
With respect to off-grid charges, which will consist of vehicle chargers that do not have functioning communications capabilities, the HEV owner in one implementation(s) transmits its receipt for sales tax paid attributable to such charging sessions to its VOPEUSP (or directly to an AT2P3S) with a request for credit for such sales taxes paid. The method of transmittal can vary, to include traditional postal or other mail (“snail mail”), email or uploading an image of the receipt to a VOPEUSP or AT2P3S portal, for example.
Additional payment methods, such as ApplePay, Bitcoin and similar crypto-currencies or comparable existing electronic payment methods can be employed, and other yet to be developed approaches should be considered as within the scope of this the HEV Use Fee Collection System.
Privacy and Security
The expectation of privacy by the individual is currently a hot topic on Capitol Hill. Chief Executive Officers of social media companies have recently come under fire for utilizing personal information, unbeknownst to the patrons of those sites, for commercial gain. And while Facebook's CEO (Mark Zuckerberg) has of lately postulated that “the future is private” (https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/mark-zuckerberg-claims-that-at-facebook-the-future-is-private-dont-believe-him/2019/05/03/b42f7564-6cf4-11e9-a66d-a82d3f3d96d5_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=0.5d6936e06355) (most likely under duress), there are other enterprises that are unabashed about their intent to utilize individuals' personal information, whereabouts and buying habits, for commercial purposes. Foursquare Labs, Inc., for example, is exceptionally transparent in its pursuit of utilizing location data of its app users to generate profits. (https://enterprise.foursquare.com/products/places).
There are, however, companies that hold the goal of maintaining user privacy as a core principle. For example, HERE Global B.V., headquartered in the Netherlands, has made public statements concerning its privacy conscious ideals (https://www.here.com/blog/privacy-and-data-regained-privacy-conscious-machine-learning). HERE Automotive is a leader in the vehicle services market, offering over-the-air software updates, location services (such as identification of fuel stations with associated pricing, as well as sites of electric vehicle charging stations), and navigation solutions (i.e., mapping software, including software-as-a-service). HERE does not address the usage fee assessment and settlement system which is the subject herein, but HERE in one implementation(s) serves as a strategic partner if it is capable of providing navigation software that facilitates the collection of roadway classifications pursuant to the requirements of the described system.
Herein is described an acute awareness of the need to maintain the privacy of individual HEV owners or lessees, and to implement security over information relating to the travel patterns of the HEV operator, both of those concerns addressed as central tenants of a robust system. Rather than accumulate specific location data, the system which is the subject hereof looks to accumulate data in homogenous buckets . . . with some exceptions. Specifically, the VMT data groupings in one implementation(s) are attributed to the HEV owner or lessee such that collection of appropriate usage fee can be facilitated, but in a manner that shelters the identity of the individual.
The author has concluded, therefore, that utilizing the VIN—which has been registered with a VOPEUSP as relating to a specific “primary” utility account number—in one implementation(s) is an acceptable approach to shelter the privacy of the individual HEV owner or lessee. Yes, the utility account number may be traced to the individual, but with appropriate firewalls and related security measures, dissemination of the identification information that would allow a bad actor to collect a VIN and trace that information back to the individual HEV owner through the VMT Use Fee Collection System in one implementation(s) is minimized.
Notwithstanding the above, current Federal Law has taken steps to limit the collection of information relative to VINs in the interest of ensuring privacy. Public Law 114-94, signed into law on Dec. 4, 2015, Subtitle C— Miscellaneous Provisions, Part I, provides us the “Driver Privacy Act of 2015”. This Act is intended to limit data retrieval from vehicle event data recorders unless (1) a court or other judicial or administrative authority having jurisdiction authorizes the retrieval of the data and, to the extent that there is retrieved data, the data is subject to the standards for admission into evidence required by that court or other administrative authority; (2) an owner or lessee of the vehicle provides consent; (3) the data is retrieved pursuant to an investigation authorized under Section 1131(a) or 30166 of Title 49 (each sections dealing with accidents); (4 the data is retrieved for the purpose of emergency medical response or (5) the data is retrieved for traffic safety research without disclosing personal information, including the VIN, in connection with the retrieved data.
Initially, it can be important to determine if a Vehicle Miles Traveled Meter Module, as described herein, is analogous to a “vehicle event data recorder” as described in this Act. If not, then the provisions of the Act should not apply to VMT Meter Modules. Per Sec. 24302(a) of the Act, “Any data retained by an event data recorder (as defined in section 563.5 of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations) . . . is the property of the vehicle owner or lessee . . . ”. Section 563.5 provides the following definition: “Event data recorder (EDR) means a device or function in a vehicle that records the vehicle's dynamic time-series data during the time period just prior to a crash event (e.g., vehicle speed vs. time) or during a crash event (e.g., delta-V vs. time), intended for retrieval after the crash event. For the purposes of this definition, the event data do not include audio and video data.”
Arguably, the phrase “vehicle's dynamic time-series data during the time period just prior to a crash event” could include the collection of VMT roadway classes and waypoints. Therefore, the law in one implementation(s) is amended to allow for VMT Meter Module assessment as described herein (in order to make usage fee reporting compulsory), or, to ensure compliance with the current law, a vehicle owner's consent would need to be obtained in order to participate in the self-reporting usage fee collection program.
In either event, it is clear that public policy is focused on ensuring the privacy of individuals absent a specific consent to share personal information. Therefore, the goal of this system is to obtain VMT information such that the individual's privacy is protected to the maximum extent possible AND that such information is transmitted securely so that bad actors (anyone attempting to gain inappropriate access) will not be able to obtain access to the information and, if the security measures be circumvented, then the personal information is limited to the point of being relatively useless to a hacker.
The steps taken to accomplish that goal include the following:
Trust Level 1 Charging Session
Trust Level 2 Charging Session
Trust Level 3 Charging Session
Vehicle hacking is an important concern for vehicles (especially ones that include electronic components), and the HEV will be no exception. Instances of vehicle hacking have been documented in recent years, certain of which have revealed important and even potentially fatal flaws associated with the electronic systems within modern vehicles.
[reserved]
Implementations:
A non-limiting list of implementations of the present invention follows:
Non-limiting implementations are provided as “use cases” in Table 1.
Basis for Applying Fees to Support Maintenance of Currently Existing Roads and Construction of New Roads
As described above, the current method of collecting fees on HEVs is for the state of registration to charge a flat annual fee (which varies based upon vehicle weight) designed to approximate an average amount of fuel tax collections on respective vehicles. As further described, while this approach is a relatively simple method of assessing a fee to support our nation's transportation infrastructure, it is clearly inherently unfair to HEV owners who drive mileage below the regional average number of miles driven annually. Furthermore, this method does little to ensure that a fair allocation of the fees collected to the states or jurisdictions where miles are driven.
Therefore, it is clear that a method of assessing HEV owners based upon the vehicle miles traveled (VMT) is a more equitable approach. Furthermore, the VMT fee collection approach should include the following attributes:
Fee Collection on Usage of Roadways Based Upon their Classification
Absent a legally determined exempt usage, both Federal and State level excise taxes are applied to each gallon of gasoline, diesel or gasohol that is supplied, distributed, transported and purchased; with a majority of the federal tax placed into a Highway Trust Fund to be used on roadway maintenance and construction. State tax collections are generally disbursed to the respective State Department of Transportation and county and city departments within the state that are responsible for state and local road construction and maintenance.
Recent administrations announced plans to dedicate at least 25 percent of the Federal infrastructure funds to grants that support rural projects including U.S. territories and Tribal communities. Under those plans he Federal government could identify areas of national priority to direct disbursements from the Federal funds (e.g., in the form of grants) to support the development of key projects or to allocate funds to areas of the country which are not otherwise able to meet the matching funds requirements (for example, rural roads in Montana where there are few residents but the roads nevertheless remain important).
Ideally the Federal and State authorities will devise a universal VMT categorization of roadway classes for HEV usage that will allow fees to be assessed at levels that will support authorized budgets for maintenance and construction. For example, a mile traveled on an Interstate highway may be more expensive to drive upon as compared to a mile of a state highway (due to above average wear and tear, multiple lanes of thoroughfare, construction administration costs, and other factors). It may be determined, therefore, that an HEV owner should pay $0.07 per mile driven on an Interstate highway as opposed to $0.055 per mile driven on a state highway. Furthermore, an ideal VMT usage fee system may charge a premium for driving on a bridge or overpass, as the cost to construct and/or maintain that infrastructure exceeds a roadway located on graded land.
The organization known as “The Constructor” (a site devoted to Civil Engineering) has provided a contractor's perspective of ‘Classifications or Types of Roads’ which analyzes roadways based on the following factors:
Materials utilized in the construction process can have a significant impact on the cost of the roadways and should be considered as a factor when determining VMT usage charges. The Constructor site identifies, in addition to the WBM process described earlier, the following road types based on materials utilized:
The other listed factors should also be considered, with weights perhaps assigned to each factor. Topography, for example, may be an important aspect in assigning a higher per mile charge for a given stretch of roadway. With the above factors in mind, the following listing of roadways should be considered in making a determination as to the classification of roadways and the respective usage fees to be charged on each; provided, however, that adjustments may be required based on the aforementioned civil engineering considerations:
While the above noted roadway (and off-road) designations have been identified by the U.S. Department of Transportation and various state Department of Transportations, there remains uncertainty between various states and various state agencies as to which of the above classifications should be considered “taxable” versus “non-taxable” (as evidenced by the example of Oregon above wherein the state lacks a clear definition and of what constitutes a “non-public road”, which may enter into a coding issue for collection of VMT usage fees).
For a system to function properly across state lines, a common classification of roadways for the purposes of a VMT system would ideally be put in place and would likely require legislation by the Federal government in order to settle state to state disputes.
In theory, even if the above noted classifications were broadly adopted, each state may decide to place roadways into their own preferred groupings (e.g., in Missouri usage fees for all rural, urban and state park roads are collected at a specific charge per mile; whereas in Illinois fees for all rural & urban roads are collected at one tier and state park roads at another).
For purposes of determining VMT usage fees it will be necessary for the VMT Use Fee Collection System to have “taxable” miles driven collected in “buckets”, as per the following example of a vehicle traveling in the states of MO & IL:
In order to develop a robust VMT Usage Fee Collection System, it will be critical for each and every HEV to be equipped with a vehicle navigation system that (a) includes mapping software that is capable of identifying the appropriate roadway classifications for each state and (b) a data logging system that collects the mileage attributable to each such classification.
Mapping
A key attribute of a navigation system that must be present in order to arrive at the lowest cost route (or to communicate the cost of an express route) would be a consistent method of classifying roads across jurisdictional boundaries for purposes of fee calculations. Such road classifications should be made available in the navigation system maps and the routing algorithms should be able to determine an estimated fee calculation based upon the anticipated mileage to be driven over the various road classes.
Unfortunately, there does not appear to be standardization across the navigation maps in terms of roadway classifications. For example, TomTom has published the following road classes that it employs in its software1:
As previously noted, TomTom mapping services are utilized in certain onboard systems (e.g., Hyundai and Kia) but are also employed in mobile apps, such as Apple Maps2 (although it appears that Apple Maps has recently begun to develop their systems to be less reliant upon TomTom3).
Alternatively, the WAZE map application utilizes the following classifications4:
While there are similarities, there are also several differences between roadway classifications when comparing these two (Tom-Tom and Waze) mapping solutions. For example, there is no provision for private roads in the TomTom schema, whereas WAZE's architecture recognizes Private Roads as category 3.3. This may be an important distinction, as governments may not be entitled to collect fees for roads that are privately maintained, and the TomTom mapping system does not appear to be structured to accommodate that distinction.
It is unlikely that proprietary mapping systems will compare neatly to either of the TomTom or Waze roadway classification schemas, and so it is fair to say that there are inconsistencies in mapping services across the board.
Another notable source of roadway mapping that has increasingly received a growing following is the OpenStreetMap initiative. Whereas the aforementioned mapping services (Tom Tom and Waze) are proprietary and may charge a license fee for use of their copyrighted data, the OpenStreetMap organization makes their mapping available without charge. Although WAZE (owned by Google) opens its mapping software to unpaid “editors” that can modify or improve the application, the system remains proprietary.5 OpenStreetMap provides programmers and others with a free dataset without being limited by the constraints of a proprietary system.6 The OSM wiki identifies the various tags (including roadway classifications) that are common in the OSM model7, inclusive of renderings and photo tags to accompany the Key Values. See Appendix A for a listing of OSM tags. While the OSM tags appear to be more thorough and complete compared to the classifications of the TomTom mapping or WAZE mapping services, it is interesting to note that the only reference to “private” in the OSM tags is for a parking space and NOT private roadways; and so this is yet another example as to how the roadway classifications differ across the various mapping solutions.
Many states and counties have their own mapping resources that are available to the public. For example, the state of North Carolina has published its own “Eleven-Digit Route Number” Guide8 that describes its roadways (utilized for its mapping) by assigning: Route (Road) Class, a Qualifier, an Inventory Code, a specified Number, and a County Code.
Counties in certain states also provide maps and apps, such as St. Louis (Mo.) County9 which offers an API that allows users to explore a rich dataset of information, including a “Street Centerlines” product that includes Highway classes. However, it is important to inspect the source data carefully, as the St. Louis County database is subject to copyright by vendors including ESRI, HERE and Garmin.
The present invention is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/120,509 filed Dec. 14, 2020, which claims priority to and the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/947,052 filed Dec. 12, 2019, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in its entirety and made a part hereof.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62947052 | Dec 2019 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 17120509 | Dec 2020 | US |
| Child | 18083693 | US |
