A vehicle conversation information output device is included in a vehicle conversation information output system configured to output conversation information to a driver driving a vehicle, the conversation information being created according to a predefined personality, the device including: a receiving part that obtains usage information related to how the vehicle has been used by the driver; a modifying part that modifies the predefined personality based on the usage information obtained by the receiving part; a creating part that creates conversation information to be output to the driver based on the personality modified by the modifying part; and an outputting part that outputs the conversation information created by the creating part to the driver.

An arousal support device including a processor programmed to output a dialogue speech in a form of a question, and obtain response speech which is a response of a driver to the dialogue speech; measure a response time from when the dialogue speech is output till the response speech is obtained; store the measured response time in a database; derive an estimated value of wakefulness of the driver based on the measured response time and a plurality of response times previously stored in the database; and output a signal corresponding to the estimated value to provide arousal support.

Vehicle manipulation is performed using occupant image analysis. A camera within a vehicle is used to collect cognitive state data including facial data, on an occupant of a vehicle. A cognitive state profile is learned, on a first computing device, for the occupant based on the cognitive state data. The cognitive state profile includes information on absolute time. The cognitive state profile includes information on trip duration time. Voice data is collected and the cognitive state data is augmented with the voice data. Further cognitive state data is captured, on a second computing device, on the occupant while the occupant is in a second vehicle. The further cognitive state data is compared, on a third computing device, with the cognitive state profile that was learned for the occupant. The second vehicle is manipulated based on the comparing of the further cognitive state data.

An interaction device includes an acquisition unit that acquires recognition information of a user and a responding unit that responds to the recognition information acquired by the acquisition unit, and the responding unit derives an indicator indicating an emotional state of the user on the basis of the recognition information and determines a response content in a form based on the derived indicator.

A vehicle drive assistance system is provided, which includes a control unit configured to perform a drive assistance control based on a balance state between a driver's required driving ability required for driving a vehicle based on a traffic environment around the vehicle and drive assistance which is provided to the driver by the vehicle, and a driver's current driving ability. The control unit includes a processor configured to execute a balance determining module to determine the balance state between the required driving ability and the current driving ability based on a physical quantity related to a driving operation by the driver.

An approach is provided for generating a passenger-based driving profile. The approach involves collecting vehicle sensor data of a vehicle carrying a user as a passenger. The vehicle sensor data indicates at least one driving behavior of the vehicle. The approach also involves collecting user sensor data, user input data, or a combination thereof indicating a reaction of the user to the at least one driving behavior. The approach further involves including or excluding the at least one driving behavior in a passenger profile for the user based on the reaction of the user.

According to one aspect, driver management is provided. One or more speech segments of a driver of an autonomous vehicle may be recorded. A position, a destination, or a previous destination of a driver or an autonomous vehicle may be tracked. An estimated state of the driver may be determined based on one or more of the speech segments, the position, the destination, or the previous destination, and a calendar event associated with the driver or a passenger of the autonomous vehicle. Autonomous driving features may be automatically enabled, disabled, or operation of the autonomous vehicle may be enabled or disabled in different modes based on the estimated state of the driver. Additionally, notifications may be displayed, rideshare applications may be launched, or warnings may be sent based on the estimated state of the driver.

An arousal support system includes: a dialogue processing unit configured to output a dialogue speech in a form of a question, and obtain response speech which is a response of a driver to the dialogue speech; a response time measuring unit configured to measure a response time from the dialogue processing unit outputs the dialogue speech till the dialogue processing unit obtains the response speech; a database storing the response time measured by the response time measuring unit; a statistic calculating unit configured to calculate a statistical value of the response time based on one or more response times stored in the database; and a first estimating unit configured to derive, based on the response time measured by the response time measuring unit and the statistical value calculated by the statistic calculating unit, an estimated value of wakefulness of the driver.

A vehicle control device includes: a speech acquiring section that acquires speech data related to a speech of a speaker; a state acquiring section that acquires information indicating whether or not a driver attempting to start driving a vehicle is in an intoxicated state based on the speech data; and a control section configured to limit a start operation of the vehicle in a case in which the information indicates that the driver is in the intoxicated state, the start operation being an operation performed by the driver with respect to the vehicle to start driving the vehicle.

An apparatus includes: a storage configured to store a data structure including first one or more feature points hierarchically listed and a contribution list including information about a contribution rank of each of second one or more feature points; and a controller configured to compare the first one or more feature points in the data structure with the second one or more feature points of the contribution list, and to determine whether to update the data structure based on a comparison result.