A computer implemented method for managing charge availability of a charge unit (CU) to obtain charge for a battery of an electric vehicle (EV) is provided. The CU includes a computer for processing at least part of the method and for communicating with a server over a network. The method includes receiving, by the server, status information from the computer of the CU. The method includes sending to the computer of the CU instructions to make a reservation for the CU. The reservation is for a user account that has requested a desire to charge the battery of the electric vehicle of the user at the CU or another CU. The method includes sending, by the server, a confirmation for the reservation to the user account. The confirmation is viewable via a device having access to the server via the user account. The method includes sending, by the server, a data regarding a time of availability of the CU to the user account for the reservation. The computer of the CU is configured to display a visual indicator regarding the reservation of the CU.

Methods, systems, apparatus, and non-transitory computer readable media are described for using a vehicle as a payment device. Various aspects may include receiving a selection of a stored financial card or financial account at a vehicle head unit. The selected financial card or financial account may be transmitted to a point-of-sale (POS) terminal for making a payment by transmitting a tokenized card number to the POS terminal. The tokenized card number may be transmitted over a very short-range communication link to ensure that the transmission is secure. For example, electronic circuitry may be attached to the exterior of the vehicle, where the electronic circuitry may be within a threshold distance (e.g. one inch, three inches, six inches, one foot, three feet, etc.) of the POS terminal. The tokenized card number may be transmitted from the vehicle head unit to the electronic circuitry and then to the POS terminal.

The present invention discloses a navigation method for electric vehicles based on electricity quantity guidance of energy-storage charging piles. The electric vehicles select charging piles nearby that can meet own charging quantity demands to charge according to location information of charging piles and real-time stored electricity information of energy storage modules of the charging piles; a system using the method includes the charging piles. The navigation method and system can reasonably guide the electric vehicles to charge according to the distribution and the stored electricity of the charging piles, and can dynamically plan travel charging solutions for the electric vehicles, thereby avoiding problems that the electric vehicles stop running without electricity on the way to the charging piles and inefficiently wait for charging for a long time, so that the stored electricity of the charging piles can be reasonably distributed and utilized, and energy idleness and waste are avoided.

A computer-implemented method and system for usage-controlled service delivery to an onboard system of a vehicle are designed for delivering updatable services to the onboard system of the vehicle by way of a vehicle-external server according to data of the service usage behavior of a vehicle user of the updatable services.

Heuristic evaluation systems and methods for spatial information deliverability for electric vehicle (EV) owners who are traveling and looking for charging location suggestions via their navigation systems, mobile applications, and/or the like. Suggestions are captured based on prior knowledge and user desires. In general, the system knows that a user is traveling from point A to point B and has a suggested optimal distance and/or time and/or cost to reach point B. The systems gathers information related to the traveler's desires in relation to lesser known dimensions, to enhance the overall quality of the travel and charging experience.

This document describes methods by which a system determines a pickup/drop-off zone (PDZ) to which a vehicle will navigate to perform a ride service request. The system will define a PDZ that is a geometric interval that is within a lane of a road at the requested destination of the ride service request by: (i) accessing map data that includes the geometric interval; (ii) using the vehicle's length and the road's speed limit at the destination to calculate a minimum allowable length for the PDZ; (iii) setting, start point and end point boundaries for the PDZ having an intervening distance that is equal to or greater than the minimum allowable length; and (iv) positioning the PDZ in the lane at or within a threshold distance from the requested destination. The system will then generate a path to guide the vehicle to the PDZ.

A method for evaluating suitability route sections of a digital map storing landmarks for automated driving operation of a vehicle is provided. For each route section of the digital map a spatial density of landmarks is determined, an expected recognizability of the landmarks is determined by a vehicle sensor system under predetermined ambient conditions, a classification is performed based on the determined density and recognizability of the landmarks as to whether a vehicle can be located on the route section with a minimum accuracy required for a predetermined operating mode and/or for a predetermined driving maneuver, and a classification result is stored as a data record in a route attribute associated with the route section, the route attribute indicating for which of the predetermined operating modes and/or driving maneuvers requirements for the minimum accuracy of the landmark-based vehicle localization are met under which of the predetermined environmental conditions.

A highway detection system may include a telematics device associated with a vehicle having one or more sensors arranged therein, a mobile device associated with a user traveling in the vehicle, and a server computer. The server computer may receive traveling data for a trip of the user from the one or more sensors and via the telematics device. The server computer may then determine whether the user is traveling within a city or on a highway based on analysis of the traveling data for the trip of the user, which may include a statistical analysis to calculate standard deviations of metrics in the traveling data. In response to the determination, the server computer may generate a notification to transmit to the user based on whether the user is traveling within a city or on a highway and transmit the notification to the mobile device associated with the user.

[Object] To provide an information processing system and a control method which are capable of generating more optimal guidance information in view of a relationship of a plurality of users.

[Solution] Provided is an information processing system, including: a user specifying unit configured to specify a plurality of users who are performing an action together; an estimating unit configured to estimate a relationship of the plurality of specified users; and a generating unit configured to generate guidance information for the plurality of users in accordance with the estimated relationship of the plurality of users.

A method of geospatial guidance for sight impaired users includes receiving, by a computer system, a user selection of a geospatial area. The computer system further receives a user selection of a point of interest criteria. The method includes finding, by the computer system, in a database that includes geospatial points of interest, those geospatial points of interest that match the user selected criteria and that are in the user selected geospatial area. The computer system determines a reference location in the user selected geospatial area and distance and direction from each of the found points of interest to the reference location. The computer system presents sets of information, to the user, wherein each set includes a description of one of the found points of interest together with distance and direction between the reference location and the one of the found points of interest.