An information providing apparatus including a detection unit of at least one computer, a decision unit of the at least one computer, and a sound control circuit. The detection unit detects a position and a movement direction of a moving object in an area in which an article, corresponding to information that is provided, is disposed. The decision unit decides a direction in which the information is provided to the moving object from a relationship between the position of the moving object, the movement direction of the moving object, and a position in the area of the article. The sound control circuit controls a sound output attached to the moving object to localize a sound image according to the information in the direction decided.

A system and method configured to establish a communication connection between a vehicle and a remote computing device for data transmission. A beacon device is configured at a location to detect the presence of the vehicle, transmit an identity of the location to the vehicle, and communicate with the vehicle to determine an identity of the vehicle. The vehicle is configured to communicate with mobile devices of occupants of the vehicle. The remote computing device is connected to the beacon device via a data communication network and configured to determine, via the beacon device communicating with the vehicle, identification information of at least one mobile device of at least one occupant of the vehicle, and establish the communication connection between the computing device and the vehicle based at least in part on the identification information and the identity of the vehicle.

The present disclosure relates to a ride share signage device and method of using the ride share signage device. In certain embodiments, ride share signage device includes: a border display element for displaying initials of ride share companies, an LED dot-matrix display element for displaying one or more advertisements and rider welcome messages in different languages. Signage controller includes a display driver to manage displays, an input module and a processing element. The input module receives information about one or more riders through a ride request and the advertisements. The processing element includes a processor and a non-volatile memory storing computer executable instructions. When executed by the processor, the computer executable instructions cause the processor to receive ride request and advertisement messages, display rider welcome message in certain distance from rider's pick-up location, and display the advertisements before displaying rider welcome message and after the riders have been dropped off.

A technique of providing advertisements in a traffic message is provided that obtains (704) traffic data having a traffic condition of a location description on a road network. A location reference code associated with the location description assigned by a traffic message supplier and an advertising reference code associated with the location reference code are assessed (706), (714), followed by a determination (716) as to whether the advertising reference code is present. If so, a traffic message having the location reference code and the advertising reference code is generated (710).

The server is configured to communicate with a plurality of power-supplying vehicles and a plurality of power-receiving vehicles. The server is configured to notify, to matched vehicles (candidate power-receiving vehicle and candidate power-supplying vehicle), a candidate gathering location list including respective pieces of information of a plurality of parking areas owned by third parties different from users of the matched vehicles, so as to make an inquiry to the users of the matched vehicles to select one of the plurality of parking areas included in the candidate gathering location list. The server is configured to determine a gathering location for the matched vehicles using the respective pieces of information of the parking areas selected by the users of the matched vehicles, and is configured to transmit the information of the parking area of the determined gathering location to the matched vehicles.

A vehicle is a movable body capable of traveling in a driver-operated mode and traveling in a driverless mode, and includes an advertisement display device and a controller. The advertisement display device is configured to switch between a first state to provide an advertisement outside of the vehicle and a second state to provide no advertisement outside of the vehicle. The controller is configured to control the advertisement display device to enter the first state during traveling in the driverless mode.

An information providing system includes: a power supply facility installed at a parking area of a shop; and a vehicle connectable to the power supply facility via a power cable. When the vehicle is connected to the power supply facility via the power cable, the power supply facility is configured to transmit information to the vehicle via the power cable. The information includes: a merchandise item list of merchandise items that can be offered by the shop to a user of the vehicle; and content information (movie, video, still image, music, speech, newspaper, magazine, electronic book, game, comics, and the like) that can be utilized by the user of the vehicle in the passenger compartment of the vehicle.

Methods and systems for tracking user behavior, the user behavior including one or more of: one or more user actions and one or more user interactions with a vehicle. A storage system stores the user behavior, where the tracked user behavior is associated with a driver and the storage system is capable of storing the tracked behavior for the driver from a plurality of vehicles.

A computerized exchange network makes available on the Internet collected information of items under inspection, such as goods, real estate, or the like. In one aspect, the items and collected information, such as images and videos, are added to a virtual showroom or other virtual inspection site that presents an inventory of such goods, real estate, or the like available from multiple sellers and/or locations. In another aspect, detailed objective information about the items is provided. In another aspect, a data structure includes desired criteria for a desired item and provides an alert when an item of interest matches the desired criteria.

Disclosed in some examples, are devices, methods, systems, and machine readable mediums that provide for automated goods exchange between autonomous vehicles while the autonomous vehicles are still in motion. This may be used to efficiently ship packages long distances as well as to transfer goods to consumers. This allows shippers to transfer goods from one truck to another without having to stop and unload the truck, decreasing costs by limiting human involvement and improving efficiency. Likewise, mobile merchants, such as food trucks, may sell to consumers in cars without having to stop to perform the exchange, increasing the convenience to consumers.