Crash Scene Drones for Immediate UAV Data Capture
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional methods for collecting vehicle crash data often result in inaccurate data due to altered crash sites, delayed insurance claims processing, and limited information provided by emergency response services, which can increase costs and inefficiencies for insurance providers.
Innovation Solution
The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) equipped with sensors such as cameras, thermal cameras, GPS, and audio sensors to autonomously or semi-autonomously collect and transmit vehicle crash data to remote computing devices for storage and analysis, allowing for accurate data collection and rapid insurance claim processing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If emergency response services alter the vehicle crash site to assist victims and manage traffic, then emergency response effectiveness is improved, but vehicle crash data accuracy deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system deploys drones to capture images and data of the crash site immediately upon arrival, before emergency responders alter the scene. This preliminary action preserves the original crash configuration for accurate reconstruction while allowing emergency services to proceed with their life-saving operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The drone creates a digital copy of the crash site through photogrammetry and imaging, capturing the spatial relationships and configurations of vehicles and debris. This digital replica serves as an accurate record without requiring physical preservation of the original scene, enabling both emergency response and data collection to proceed simultaneously.
2Measurement precision
If law enforcement recreates the vehicle crash site to gather accurate data, then vehicle crash data accuracy is improved, but processing time deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The drone performs crash site documentation immediately upon arrival, capturing all necessary spatial and visual data before the scene is altered. This eliminates the need for later recreation of the crash site by law enforcement, as the original configuration is already recorded with high precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The system replaces the manual, time-consuming process of physically recreating crash sites with automated drone-based photogrammetry and imaging. The drone autonomously captures and processes data to create accurate 3D models and measurements, substituting mechanical reconstruction with automated optical measurement.
3Loss of information
If crash scene recreation is performed after emergency services, then vehicle crash data completeness is improved, but insurance claims processing speed deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The drone captures comprehensive crash scene data immediately upon arrival, recording all vehicle positions, orientations, and debris distributions before they change. This preliminary data collection ensures completeness without requiring delayed recreation, enabling insurance adjusters to begin processing claims while the scene is still being managed by emergency responders.
Solution Approach 2:
The drone acts as an intermediary that simultaneously serves both emergency response operations and insurance data collection needs. By capturing data that satisfies both requirements, it eliminates the sequential process where insurance data collection must wait until after emergency response completes.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for collecting drone data at a crash site using an autonomous or semi-autonomous drone may include determining or receiving a crash GPS location associated with a crash location of a crash scene, and may further include generating a pre-generated flight path for an autonomous or semi-autonomous drone based upon the crash GPS location. The autonomous or semi-autonomous drone may be mounted, or held securely in place, on an emergency response vehicle traveling to the crash location. The method may further include autonomously or semi-autonomously flying the autonomous or semi-autonomous drone in accordance with the pre-generated flight path at the crash GPS location to generate or collect drone data associated with the crash scene. The drone data may be used for one or more insurance-related purposes, such as handling, adjusting, or generating auto or homeowners insurance claims; crash reconstruction; fault determination; damaged vehicle repair; and/or buildup identification.