Provided is an information provision apparatus for a vehicle, the apparatus capable of providing information that fits the situation of the vehicle to a user. An information provision apparatus for a vehicle is provided with a vehicle-mounted device which comprises a report means for reporting various kinds of information including vehicle information to a user, and a control means for operating the report means, and is connected to an external device via a connection means. Upon receiving a manipulation input signal indicating that a start switch of the vehicle is turned on, the control means operates the report means in order to report to the user that a communication connection between the vehicle-mounted device and the external device is not established, until the communication connection is established.

An input and output device includes a speaker diaphragm and a touch sensor carried on the speaker diaphragm. The input and output device may also include a display device oriented to display an image through the speaker diaphragm and the touch sensor. Further, the input and output device includes a control module configured to provide integrated operation of the speaker diaphragm, the touch sensor and the display device as well as tactile and audio feedback through the speaker diaphragm when the touch sensor senses a touch.

System, methods, and other embodiments described herein relate to adaptively communicating notices to passengers within a vehicle. In one embodiment, a method includes in response to receiving a notice about an occurrence of an event, determining a viewing orientation of a passenger in the vehicle according to at least one electronic input that indicates information about a physical position of the passenger within the vehicle. The event is an incident associated with the vehicle for which the passenger is to be informed. The method also includes selecting at least one alerting device from available communication devices in the vehicle according to the viewing orientation by determining which of the available communication devices correspond with the viewing orientation of the passenger. The method further includes controlling the at least one alerting device to communicate the notice to the passenger about the occurrence of the event.

Provided are an autonomous vehicle that displays a virtual driving environment image that replaces an actual driving environment via a display device disposed on a car window area of the autonomous vehicle and a method of operating the autonomous vehicle.

A vehicle system which includes: an electric power control unit causes a power generation device to continue to generate electric power when the derived remaining amount of a fuel is smaller than a first threshold value or when a traveling distance calculated on the basis of the remaining amount of a fuel is smaller than a second threshold value and the output control unit calculates a second traveling distance that a vehicle is able to travel on the basis of the derived amount of charge or charge rate and causes an output unit to output information associated with the second traveling distance.

A system for displaying information via a smart ring can include a ring band. The system for displaying information via a smart ring also can include at least one processor disposed within the ring band. The at least one processor disposed within the ring can be configured to identify a user of the smart ring. The at least one processor disposed within the ring further can be configured to analyze the data to identify a condition. The system for displaying information via a smart ring further can include a display disposed at least partially in, at least partially on, or coupled to the ring band and communicatively coupled to the processor. Furthermore, the at least one processor disposed within the ring can be configured to cause the display to present information indicative of the condition. Other embodiments are disclosed.

A system for controlling vibration of a steering wheel of a vehicle, includes a controller connected to an information obtaining apparatus and the steering wheel. A transverse linear motor is disposed on the steering wheel. The information obtaining apparatus is configured to obtain and to send vibration interaction information to the controller. The vibration interaction information includes user information corresponding to a user of the vehicle, multimedia information of the vehicle, traveling information of the vehicle, environmental information of an environment in which the vehicle is located, or lighting information of the vehicle. The controller is configured to determine a vibration parameter of the steering wheel according to the vibration interaction information, and to control, according to the vibration parameter, the transverse linear motor to vibrate with the steering wheel. The vibration parameter includes a vibration frequency, a vibration amplitude, a vibration duration, or a vibration direction.

A system for controlling vibration of a steering wheel of a vehicle, includes a controller connected to an information obtaining apparatus and the steering wheel. A transverse linear motor is disposed on the steering wheel. The information obtaining apparatus is configured to obtain and to send vibration interaction information to the controller. The vibration interaction information includes user information corresponding to a user of the vehicle, multimedia information of the vehicle, traveling information of the vehicle, environmental information of an environment in which the vehicle is located, or lighting information of the vehicle. The controller is configured to determine a vibration parameter of the steering wheel according to the vibration interaction information, and to control, according to the vibration parameter, the transverse linear motor to vibrate with the steering wheel. The vibration parameter includes a vibration frequency, a vibration amplitude, a vibration duration, or a vibration direction.

An electronic device includes a storage unit storing adjustment information whereby the amount of change in a predetermined direction, when an adjustment portion was moved to adjust a setting for a predetermined system by the user performing a touch operation, has been associated with an amount of adjustment for adjusting the setting for the predetermined system. A control unit determines whether or not the user's touch operation has passed through a region in a predetermined amount of time, and calculates the amount of change in the predetermined direction based on the touch operation when it has been determined that the touch operation has passed through the region within the predetermined amount of time, determines the amount of adjustment corresponding to the calculated amount of change based on the adjustment information, and issues an instruction to the predetermined system to set a setting value based on the determined amount of adjustment.

A vehicle control device includes: a first detection unit that detects a traveling state of a host vehicle; a merging detection unit that detects that the host vehicle approaches within a predetermined area of a merging point when the host vehicle travels on the merging road toward the merging point at which a main road joins with the merging road; a second detection unit that detects a speed of a lane flow by another vehicle that travels on the main road toward the merging point; a position detection unit that obtains a position of a pre-merging point as a virtual point on the main road reaching the merging point when the host vehicle reaches the merging point; and a display control unit that controls a display device to display the position of the host vehicle and the pre-merging point.