The present invention relates to a system and a method for calculating at least one synthetic risk index related to the future driving activity of a vehicle on the part of a user, particularly but not exclusively useful and practical in the field of the estimation of costs related to vehicle insurance policies, such as for example third-party motor liability insurance policies.

Currently, in the field of vehicle insurance, particularly for cars, the use of technological and telematic solutions in order to detect the driving behaviors of driving users, the routes followed by driving users habitually or occasionally, and any accidents that have occurred is increasingly widespread, these solutions being constituted typically by electronic devices installed on board the vehicles.

The use of these known electronic devices on the one hand tends to increase road safety, for example because the driving user feels in a way under observation and therefore drives his/her vehicle more carefully and with greater compliance with speed limits and the road code, and on the other hand allows insurance companies to collect a series of data and information items that can allow the calculation of at least one risk index associated with the user, i.e., with the driver of the vehicle, and to accordingly propose to the driving user insurance premiums that are estimated on the basis of the value of the risk index calculated previously.

Furthermore, the data and information collected by these known electronic devices can be used by insurance companies to perform an analysis following an accident, for example by considering the five minutes prior to the accident and the five minutes that follow the accident, in order to check whether the accident is genuine and real or whether it was linked to an attempted fraud.

Currently the technical means and the apparatuses used to monitor the driving activity of a user can comprise onboard computers or black boxes permanently connected to the vehicles of the user; said onboard computers and black boxes transmit autonomously the detected data toward a remote centralized data collection system.

As an alternative, specific devices are known for this purpose which are connected to the OBD (On-Board Diagnostics) ports of the vehicles of users; these OBD devices transmit the detected data autonomously or by using the connection to a communication network of a mobile device, such as for example a smartphone or a tablet.

Moreover, applications are known which are intended for mobile devices, such as for example smartphones or tablets, which detect the data related to the driving behavior of users by using the hardware made available by the device itself, such as for example GPS modules, accelerometers, and so forth, even if the mobile device is not coupled to the vehicle.

Regardless of the technical means used, the process of monitoring the driving activity of a user on the part of insurance companies and/or control centers typically can be divided into three distinct and successive steps: the collection of the data related to the driving behavior of the individual user, the processing of the collected data in order to obtain a set of indicators of the driving behavior of said user, and finally the calculation of at least one synthetic risk index, usually a unique one, which can be associated with the driving user, wherein the synthetic indexes summarize what is represented by the indicators, as well as the insurance rating of the driving user.

Insurance companies then use the synthetic risk index thus calculated, which as mentioned corresponds to the insurance rating of the driving user, in order to determine the vehicle insurance solution that is best suited for the requirements of the driving user, to then propose it to said user in the form of an estimate for a vehicle insurance policy.

The known solutions described above are not free from drawbacks, which include the fact that the calculation of at least one synthetic risk index related to said driving user is performed on the basis of data collected by the technical means associated with the vehicle of the user and on the basis of history data collected by an insurance company over the course of its own activity and related to the accidents and/or damage that were paid, and thus corresponding to behaviors, events and/or situations that occurred in a time period which is by now past.

These past collected data are a history of the driving behavior and of the trips of the user, but there is no certainty that the behaviors, the events and/or the situations to which these collected data refer will also repeat in a future time period, which however is the time period covered by the insurance estimate.

According to this logic, therefore, an insurance company must rely, for the estimation of the costs related to insurance policies, on the assessment of the driving users performed only and exclusively on the basis of past data, when instead any insurance coverage is related to a future time period, which therefore is still to come.

The aim of the present invention is to overcome the limitations of the background art described above, by devising a system and a method for calculating at least one risk index related to the future driving activity of a vehicle on the part of a user, particularly for estimating the costs related to vehicle insurance policies, that allow to achieve better effects than those obtainable with known solutions.

Within this aim, an object of the invention is to provide a system and a method for calculating at least one risk index related to the future driving activity of a user that allow to process said synthetic risk index on the basis of a set of contextual data, i.e., related to behaviors, events and/or situations that are yet to occur in a future time period.

Another object of the present invention is to devise a system and a method for calculating at least one risk index related to the future driving activity of a user that allow the direct or indirect intervention of insurance companies in defining the actuarial criteria and the algorithms for calculating the synthetic risk index, i.e., the synthetic index that corresponds to the insurance rating of the driving user.

A further object of the present invention is to conceive a system and a method for calculating at least one risk index related to the future driving activity of a user that allow direct or indirect intervention of the insurance companies in the definition of the past collected data and/or of the future contextual data for calculating the synthetic risk index, i.e., the synthetic index that corresponds to the insurance rating of the driving user.

Another object of the present invention is to devise a system and a method for calculating at least one risk index related to the future driving activity of a user that are as much as possible independent of the type and quality of the technical means used for the monitoring of the driving activity of driving users and of the precision of its detections.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a system for calculating at least one risk index related to the future driving activity of a user that is highly reliable, relatively simple to provide and at modest costs.

This aim, as well as these and other objects that will become better apparent hereinafter, are achieved by a system for calculating at least one risk index related to the future driving activity of a user, comprising at least one vehicle, provided with an electronic data collection device, and a remote processing device, mutually linked by means of a first telematic communication network, characterized in that it further comprises at least one remote contextualizing device adapted to provide future contextual data to said remote processing device, said at least one remote contextualizing device being linked to said remote processing device by means of a second telematic communication network, and in that said remote processing device comprises a calculation engine configured to calculate said at least one risk index as a function of said future contextual data and as a function of past data detected and collected by said electronic data collection device of said at least one vehicle.

The intended aim and objects are also achieved by a method for calculating at least one risk index related to the future driving activity of a user, comprising the steps that consist in detecting and collecting past data by means of an electronic data collection device associated with at least one vehicle, in acquiring future contextual data from at least one remote contextualizing device, and in calculating said at least one risk index as a function of said future contextual data and as a function of said past data detected and collected by said electronic data collection device of said vehicle.

Further characteristics and advantages of the invention will become better apparent from the description of a preferred but not exclusive embodiment of the system and of the method for calculating at least one risk index related to the future driving activity on the part of a user according to the invention, illustrated by way of nonlimiting example in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a block diagram which shows schematically a possible embodiment of the architecture of the system for calculating at least one risk index related to the future driving activity of a user, according to the present invention;

Figure 2 is a block diagram which shows schematically a possible embodiment of the system for calculating at least one risk index related to the future driving activity of a user, according to the present invention;

Figure 3 is a flowchart which represents the various steps that constitute a possible embodiment of the method for calculating at least one risk index related to the future driving activity of a user, according to the present invention.

With reference to the figures, a system for calculating at least one risk index related to the future driving activity of a user according to the invention, generally designated by the reference numeral 10, substantially comprises at least one vehicle 20 provided with an electronic data collection device 21, a remote processing device 12, at least one remote contextualizing device 24a, 24b, 24c, and at least one remote estimate calculation device 34.

The system 10 for calculating at least one risk index related to the future driving activity of a user 5 further comprises a first telematic communication network 18, which is adapted to link the vehicle 20 to the remote processing device 12 and vice versa, a second telematic communication network 22, which is adapted to link the remote contextualizing devices 24a, 24b, 24c to the remote processing device 12 and vice versa, and a third telematic communication network 32, which is adapted to link the remote estimate calculation device 34 to the remote processing device 12 and vice versa.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the at least one vehicle 20 comprised in the system 10 for calculating at least one risk index related to the future driving activity of a user 5 can be constituted by a motor vehicle, such as for example a car, as shown in Figure 1, but also a bus, a truck, a road tractor, a heavy goods vehicle, a tractor- semitrailer rig, an articulated vehicle or, more generally, any motor-driven vehicle with at least four wheels.

Typically, the system 10 for calculating at least one risk index related to the future driving activity of a user 5 comprises a plurality of vehicles 20, constituted for example by a set of motor vehicles of the various types listed above. By way of example, the system 10 according to the invention can comprise ten motor vehicles 20 in total, of which five cars, three buses, one truck and one heavy goods vehicle.

In another embodiment of the invention, the system 10 for calculating at least one risk index related to the future driving activity of a user 5 can comprise at least one vehicle 20 constituted by a motorcycle, such as for example a motorbike, a sidecar, a motorized bicycle, a three-wheeler truck or, more generally, any motorized vehicle with two or three wheels.

In another embodiment of the invention, the system 10 for calculating at least one risk index related to the future driving activity of a user 5 can comprise at least one vehicle 20 constituted by an aircraft, such as for example a glider, a motorized glider, an ultralight aircraft, a piston engine aircraft, a turboprop aircraft, a jet, a balloon, free flying means such as a hang glider and paraglider, a helicopter, a remotely piloted aircraft or a drone.

In yet another embodiment of the invention, the system 10 for calculating at least one risk index related to the future driving activity of a user 5 can comprise vehicles 20 constituted by bicycles or Segways.

Each vehicle 20 is provided with an electronic data collection device 21 , which can be constituted by any mobile device adapted to be transported and used by a user 5 inside the vehicle 20, such as for example a smartphone, a tablet or a wearable electronic device such as a smartwatch, or by a device previously placed or installed, permanently or not, on the vehicle 20, such as for example an onboard computer, a black box or an adapted device connected to an OBD (On-Board Diagnostics) port.

It should be noted that the term "user" commonly references a single person, but within the scope of the present invention this term can also reference a set of people, such as for example a family or a group of workers.

The electronic data collection device 21 of the vehicle 20 is adapted to detect the trips of the vehicle 20 and, more generally, collect data on the driving behavior and on the routes of the user 5, using the hardware components available, such as for example GPS modules, timers, accelerometers or other types of motion sensor.

Furthermore, the electronic data collection device 21 of the vehicle 20 comprises means for interfacing with the remote processing device 12 and is configured to communicate with the latter via the telematic communication network 18, in order to transmit said collected past data related to the trips of the vehicle 20 and to the driving behavior and the routes of the user 5.

The electronic data collection device 21 is associated uniquely and temporarily or permanently with the vehicle 20 on which it is placed or installed, being consequently associated uniquely temporarily or permanently also with the driving user 5 of the vehicle 20.

After the driving user 5 has performed successfully the association between himself/herself and the electronic data collection device 21 of the vehicle 20, according to methods that are known to the person skilled in the art, the electronic data collection device 21 starts, preferably automatically or following a command, the monitoring of the driving activity of the user 5, i.e., the detection and storage of the trips of the vehicle 20 and of the characteristics of these trips, this information being determined on the basis of predefined parameters that can be detected by the electronic data collection device 21 placed or installed on the vehicle 20 of the driving user 5, such as for example motion and significant stopping, the routes followed and the types of road followed. For example, the followed routes can be traced by using the GPS signal of a GPS module that is integrated in the electronic data collection device 21 of the vehicle 20.

As already mentioned, the electronic data collection device 21 of the vehicle 20 and the remote processing device 12 are capable of mutually communicating by means of a telematic communication network 18, preferably the Internet.

The remote contextualizing devices 24a, 24b, 24c are systems of the server type, preferably Web servers, each comprising a control unit 26a, 26b, 26c and a database for the storage of contextual data 28a, 28b, 28c, the database 28a, 28b, 28c being connected to the control unit 26a, 26b, 26c, and comprising means for interfacing with the remote processing device 12.

These remote contextualizing devices 24a, 24b, 24c are adapted to provide, following an appropriate query, the contextual data stored therein, which include the data related to the future conditions or the conditions expected along the route that the driving user 5 intends to cover in a given future period of time, but also, more generally, the data related to the future conditions or the expected conditions within the future time period during which the driving user 5 intends to travel, regardless of the route to be covered.

By way of example, the remote contextualizing device 24a provides contextual data related to the conditions of traffic along the route that the driving user 5 intends to cover in a given future period of time, the remote contextualizing device 24b provides contextual data related to the weather conditions expected along the route that the driving user 5 intends to cover in a given future period of time, the remote contextualizing device 24c provides contextual data related to the predictions of the behavior of the financial market in a given future period of time (for example in the next hour, in the next day, in the next week, and so forth).

Further examples of remote contextualizing devices can provide contextual data related to the predictions of the voting results of the forthcoming elections or contextual data related to the predictions of the results of future sports or cultural events.

In practice, the remote contextualizing devices 24a, 24b, 24c act as external sources of future contextual data and information, managed by third parties which operate for example in the field of traffic information, in the field of weather forecasts, or also in the field of the financial market trend.

Furthermore, the remote contextualizing devices 24a, 24b, 24c comprise means for interfacing with the remote processing device 12 and are configured to communicate with the latter over the telematic communication network 22 in order to transmit said future contextual data following a query performed by the remote processing device 12.

In one embodiment of the invention, the remote contextualizing devices 24a, 24b, 24c further comprise means for interfacing with the remote estimate calculation device 34 and are configured to communicate with the latter over a telematic communication network, in order to transmit said future contextual data following a query made by the remote estimate calculation device 34.

The system 10 for calculating at least one risk index related to the future driving activity of a user 5 according to the invention comprises means for selecting a route that the driving user 5 intends to cover in a given future period of time.

It should be noted that within the scope of the present invention a route can be defined in various manners: by way of example, a route can be defined by one or more specific paths to be followed in order to cover the distance between a starting point and a destination point (for example, from Milan to Rome) or a route can be defined by a future time period during which the driving user 5 intends to make his/her trips (for example in the next week) or a route can be defined by a trip length of the driving user 5 (for example 1000 km), or a route can be defined by a region or geographical area within which the driving user 5 intends to make his/her trips (for example within the municipality of Milan), or also a combination of these modes (for example from Milan to Rome next week).

In one embodiment of the invention, the route selection means are comprised in the vehicle 20 driven by the user 5, in particular can be comprised within the corresponding electronic data collection device 21. In another embodiment of the invention, the route selection means are comprised in the remote processing device 12. In another embodiment of the invention, the route selection means are comprised both in the vehicle 20 driven by the user 5, for example in the corresponding electronic data collection device 21, and in the remote processing device 12.

After the driving user 5 has defined successfully a route that he/she intends to cover in a given future period of time, by virtue of the route selection means and in manners that are known to the person skilled in the art, the remote processing device 12 starts the process for calculating the risk index and, for obtaining the future contextual data required for this purpose, it queries the remote contextualizing devices 24a, 24b, 24c, sending to all or some of them the information and the data related to the defined route that the driving user 5 intends to cover and to the future time period during which he/she intends to make the trip along the defined route.

Following this query, the control unit 26a, 26b, 26c of each remote contextualizing device 24a, 24b, 24c analyzes the information and the data received from the remote processing device 12 and as a function thereof recovers the related future contextual data stored in the database for storing contextual data 28a, 28b, 28c, which are then sent to the remote processing device 12 as response to said query.

As already mentioned, the remote contextualizing devices 24a, 24b, 24c and the remote processing device 12 are capable of communicating with each other by means of a telematic communication network 22, preferably the Internet.

The remote processing device 12, which typically belongs to an intermediary company 30 specialized in insurance risk assessment, is a system of the server type, preferably a Web server, which comprises a calculation engine 14 and a database for storing user data 16, the database 16 being linked to the calculation engine 14 and comprising means for interfacing with the electronic data collection device 21 of the vehicle 20, means for interfacing with the remote contextualizing devices 24a, 24b, 24c, and means for interfacing with the remote estimate calculation device 34.

In practice, the remote processing device 12 performs the function of an aggregator of the past data detected and collected by the electronic data collection devices 21 placed or installed on a plurality of vehicles 20 during the monitoring of the driving activity of users, as well as the function of calculating the synthetic risk index related to the future driving activity of the vehicle 20 on the part of the user 5. In one embodiment of the invention, the remote processing device 12 further comprises a database for storing contextual data, i.e., the data acquired over time by the remote processing device 12 itself by querying in each instance the remote contextualizing devices 24a, 24b, 24c.

In one embodiment of the system 10 for calculating at least one risk index related to the future driving activity of a user 5 according to the invention, the remote processing device 12 comprises interface means, which are implemented for example within a web app, by means of which the driving user 5 can register with the driving activity monitoring service, filling in some fields related to his/her own personal identification data, to the data on his/her insurance history and to the identification data of the vehicle driven by the user 5.

By way of example, the personal identification data that are requested from the driving user 5 can comprise: name and surname, sex, date of birth, taxpayer identification code, residence and domicile address, landline and mobile phone number, email address; while the identification data of the vehicle driven by the user 5 can comprise: manufacturer, model, displacement, registration year, number plate, chassis number.

The calculation engine 14, as mentioned comprised in the remote processing device 12, is configured to calculate, according to appropriate actuarial criteria and algorithms that are known to the person skilled in the art, at least one synthetic risk index both as a function of the data related to the driving activity of the user 5, i.e., the data on driving behavior and on the trips of the user 5, detected and collected at each trip by the electronic data collection devices 21 placed or installed on the vehicles 20, and as a function of the future contextual data, i.e., the data related to future conditions (for example traffic information) or expected conditions (for example weather forecasts), obtained by the remote processing device 12 by querying the remote contextualizing devices 24a, 24b, 24c.

In particular, said synthetic risk index represents numerically the risk level, and therefore the insurance rating, that can be referred to a driving user 5 as a function of the habitual behavior at the steering wheel of the category of users to which he/she belongs, of the driving behavior of the specific user 5 and of his/her trips, of the future or expected conditions along the route the driving user 5 intends to cover.

As already mentioned, the remote processing device 12 receives, on the part of the plurality of electronic data collection devices 21, the driving data collected by them and supplies with these data received in input a "global" database 16, i.e., a database that stores all the data collected and processed, related to the entire set of driving users registered with the driving activity monitoring service.

The database for the storage of user data 16, as mentioned comprised in the remote processing device 12, is connected to the calculation engine 14 of the remote processing device 12 and allows to store and retrieve the data entered by every driving user 5 during registration with the service, as well as the data that arise from the monitoring of the driving activity of the driving user 5.

The data that derive from the monitoring of the driving activity of the user 5 can comprise for example the statistical data of the individual trips made (dates, duration of trip, kilometers covered) and the statistical global trip data (total kilometers covered, percentage of travel along city roads, extra-urban roads, highways, percentage of trip in daytime or night).

In one embodiment of the invention, the personal identification data of the driving user 5, the identification data of the vehicle 20 associated with the user 5, and the data that derive from the monitoring of the driving activity of the user 5 constitute as a whole a personal profile of the driving user 5, which is stored in the database for the storage of user data 16.

In a preferred embodiment of the system 10 for calculating at least one risk index related to the future driving activity of a vehicle by a user 5, the remote processing device 12 is further linked to at least one remote estimate calculation device 34. This link occurs again by means of a telematic communication network 32, preferably the Internet.

The remote estimate calculation device 34, which typically belongs to an insurance company 40, an insurance broker, or a price comparator/aggregator, is a system of the server type, preferably a Web server, which comprises an estimate generation engine 36 and a database for storing insurance data 38, the database 38 being connected to the estimate generation engine 36, and comprising means for interfacing with the remote processing device 12.

In particular, the remote estimate calculation device 34 provides for structured sharing, with the remote processing device 12, of the information related to the personal profile of the driving user 5, which comprise for example his/her personal identification data, the identification data of his/her vehicle 20, and the synthetic risk index calculated by the calculation engine 14 as a function of the past collected data and/or of the future contextual data.

As mentioned, the remote estimate calculation device 34 comprises an estimate generation engine 36, which is indeed adapted to generate an estimate for an insurance policy for vehicles by using as a source of information the data received from the remote processing device 12, i.e., the personal identification data of the driving user 5, the identification data of his/her vehicle 20, and the at least one synthetic risk index calculated as a function of the past collected data and/or of the future contextual data.

The estimate generation engine 36 is therefore suitable to determine the insurance solution for vehicles that is most suited for the requirements of the driving user 5, to then propose it to the user 5 before a specific trip or prior to a period of time.

The database for storing insurance data 38 is a database that is linked to the estimate generation engine 36, which allows to store and retrieve the estimates generated over time by the remote estimate calculation device 34, but most of all the procedural, deductive and qualitative rules used to generate the estimates, which belong to each insurance company 40 and are derived from the experience of the insurance company 40 in the specific field.

By virtue of these inference rules, the estimate generation engine 36 of the remote estimate calculation device 34 is capable of selecting the terms or clauses that compose the insurance solution, i.e., the policy, that is best suited to the risk protection requirements of the driving user 5, with reference to the route that he/she intends to cover in a given future time period, and of determining the total corresponding insurance premium or the premium for each term or clause of the vehicle insurance.

In particular, within the scope of the present invention, these terms or clauses can be added or removed, on the part of the remote estimate calculation device 34, from the estimate for the insurance policy on the basis of the future contextual data.

It should be noted that the insurance premium, i.e., the total cost or the cost for each term or clause of the insurance to be paid by the driving user 5, can be expressed in various manners: by way of example, an insurance premium can refer to a trip length of the driving user 5 (for example a cost per kilometer, a cost per 100 km, or a cost per 1000 km), or an insurance premium can be referred to a future time period during which the driving user 5 intends to make his/her trips (for example an hourly cost, a daily cost, a weekly cost, or a monthly cost) or an insurance premium can be referred to a region or geographical area within which the driving user 5 intends to make his/her own trips (for example a cost within the municipality of Milan) or again a combination of the above cited modes (for example an hourly cost in the municipality of Milan).

As already mentioned, the remote estimate calculation device 34 and the remote processing device 12 are capable of communicating with each other by means of a telematic communication network 32, preferably the Internet.

In this manner, the remote processing device 12 can be capable of acquiring the past collected data and/or the future contextual data needed in each instance in order to be able to perform the calculation of the synthetic risk index cited above; and to send to the remote estimate calculation device 34 of the insurance company 40, or to the remote estimate calculation devices 34 of a plurality of insurance companies 40, the personal identification data of the driving user 5, the data on his/her insurance history, the identification data of his/her vehicle 20, and the calculated synthetic risk index.

In summary, at each trip performed by the driving user 5 or, more generally, upon each communication between the electronic data collection device 21 of the vehicle 20 driven by the user 5 and the remote processing device 12, the latter receives in input, on the part of the electronic data collection device 21, the data related to the driving activity of the user 5 which can be referred to said individual trip or to the most recent trips made, and stores these data in input within the database for user data storage 16, associating them with the personal profile of the driving user 5 created during registration.

Then, when the driving user 5 defines a route that he/she intends to cover in a given future period of time and for which he/she wishes to have insurance coverage, in order to obtain the future contextual data required to start the process for calculating the risk index, the remote processing device 12 queries the remote contextualizing devices 24a, 24b, 24c, sending to all or some of them the information and the data related to the defined route that the driving user 5 intends to cover and to the future time period during which he/she intends to make the trip along the defined route.

Once the future contextual data cited above have been acquired, the remote processing device 12 starts the process for calculating the risk index as a function of the past collected data, which as mentioned are stored in the database for the storage of user data 16, and the future contextual data, made available by the remote contextualizing devices 24a, 24b, 24c.

In this matter, if the driving user 5 has obtained a relative risk index related to future driving activity that is sufficiently "good", i.e., within a first range of values defined by the insurance companies, he/she can obtain from the insurance companies a discounted estimate or more generally favorable conditions, such as for example a low relief value, for the insurance policy of his/her own vehicle; whereas if the driver user 5 has obtained a "bad" risk index, i.e., within a second range of values defined by the insurance companies, he/she can obtain from the insurance companies a more expensive quotation or more generally unfavorable conditions, such as for example limitations of the policy, for the insurance policy of his/her own vehicle.

As a function of this synthetic risk index, therefore, the insurance companies provide the driving user 5 with a more or less discounted or increased estimate.

An embodiment of the method for calculating at least one risk index related to the future driving activity of a vehicle on the part of a user 5, according to the present invention, is now described with reference to Figure 3.

The method begins in step 50, with the detection and collection at each trip, on the part of the electronic data collection device 21 arranged or installed on the vehicle 20, of data related to the driving activity of the user 5, i.e., the data on the driving behavior and on the trips of the user 5.

Then, in step 52, the driving user 5 defines successfully a route that he/she intends to cover in a given future period of time, by means of the route selection devices means and according to methods that are known to the person skilled in the art.

In step 54, in order to obtain the future contextual data, i.e., the data related to future conditions (for example traffic information) or conditions that are expected (for example weather forecasts), which are required for the start of the process for calculating the risk index, the remote contextualizing devices 24a, 24b, 24c are queried, sending to all or some of them the information and the data related to the defined route that the driving user 5 intends to cover and to the future time period during which he/she intends to make the trip along the defined route.

Then, once the future contextual data have been acquired, the at least one synthetic risk index is calculated in step 56, according to appropriate actuarial criteria and algorithms that are known to the person skilled in the art, both as a function of the data related to the driving activity of the user 5 according to step 50, detected and collected at each trip by the electronic data collection device 21 associated with the vehicle 20, and as a function of the future contextual data according to step 54, obtained by querying the remote contextualizing devices 24a, 24b, 24c.

In particular, the synthetic risk index represents numerically the risk level, and therefore the insurance rating, that can be referred to a driving user 5 as a function of the habitual behaviors at the steering wheel of the category of users to which he/she belongs, of the driving behavior of the specific driving user 5 and of his/her trips, of the future or expected conditions along the route that the driving user 5 intends to cover.

Finally, in step 58, the remote estimate calculation device 34 of an insurance company 40 generates an estimate for a vehicle insurance policy and determines the corresponding total insurance premium for each term or clause of the vehicle policy, using a plurality of data including the at least one synthetic risk index that can be referred to the driving user 5 calculated in step 56.

This estimate comprises the terms or clauses that compose the insurance solution, i.e., the policy, that is best suited to the risk protection requirements of the driving user 5, with reference to the route that he/she intends to cover in a given future period of time, defined in step 52. In particular, within the scope of the present invention, these terms or clauses can be added or removed, by the remote estimate calculation device 34 of the insurance company 40, from the estimate for the insurance policy on the basis of the future contextual data.

In practice it has been found that the invention achieves fully the intended aim and objects. In particular it has been found that the system and the method for calculating at least one risk index related to the future driving activity of a vehicle on the part of a user, particularly for estimating the costs related to insurance policies for vehicles, thus conceived allow to overcome the qualitative limitations of the background art, since they allow to process said synthetic risk index the basis of a set of future contextual data, i.e., data related to behaviors, events and/or situations that have yet to occur in a future time period.

Another advantage of the system and of the method for calculating at least one risk index related to the future driving activity resides in that they allow the direct or indirect intervention of the insurance companies in the definition of the actuarial criteria and of the algorithms for calculating the synthetic risk index, i.e., the synthetic index that corresponds to the insurance rating of the driving user.

A further advantage of the system and of the method for calculating at least one risk index related to the future driving activity resides in that they allow the direct or indirect intervention of the insurance companies in the definition of the past collected data and/or of the future contextual data for calculating the synthetic risk index, i.e., the synthetic index that corresponds to the insurance rating of the driving user.

Moreover, an advantage of the system and of the method for calculating at least one risk index related to the future driving activity resides in that they are in practice independent of the type and quality of the technical means used to monitor the driving activity of the driving users and of the precision of its detections. The invention thus conceived is susceptible of numerous modifications and variations, all of which are within the scope of the appended claims. All the details may further be replaced with other technically equivalent elements.

In practice, the materials used, as well as the contingent shapes and dimensions, may be any according to the requirements and the state of the art.

To conclude, the scope of the protection of the claims must not be limited by the illustrations or preferred embodiments shown in the description by way of examples, but rather the claims must comprise all the characteristics of patentable novelty that reside in the present invention, including all the characteristics that would be treated as equivalents by the person skilled in the art.

The disclosures in Italian Patent Application No. 102015000089418 (UB2015A009818) from which this application claims priority are incorporated herein by reference.

Where technical features mentioned in any claim are followed by reference signs, those reference signs have been included for the sole purpose of increasing the intelligibility of the claims and accordingly such reference signs do not have any limiting effect on the interpretation of each element identified by way of example by such reference signs.