Provided is a lighting device for an automobile air vent. The lighting device for an automobile air vent has a variable resistor, a light emitter, a light guide, and a diffusion plate. The variable resistor is connected to a knob of an air vent and is configured to vary resistance according to a manipulation amount of the knob. The light emitter is connected to the variable resistor and is configured to emit light such that brightness or color of the light is varied according to the variable resistance varied by the variable resistor. The light guide is configured to guide the light emitted by the light emitter. The diffusion plate is installed in an air vent housing of the air vent and is configured to diffuse the light guided through the light guide.

A vehicle-mounted device operation system, includes: an operating part that is located in a vehicle cabin, and configured to be subjected to operation for manually operating a vehicle-mounted device; a sound collector that is located in the vehicle cabin, and configured to collect speech of an occupant; and a processor configured to determine whether a command to the vehicle-mounted device is included in a content of the speech of the occupant collected by the sound collector, activate the vehicle-mounted device according to the command, when the processor determines that the command to the vehicle-mounted device is included in the content of the speech of the occupant, and highlight the operating part for the vehicle-mounted device activated by the processor.

When the automobile is changed to the manual driving mode, the control device starts acceptance as the operation of the touch pad as an operation on the application system that displays the screen on the heads-up display, and when the automobile is in the autonomous driving mode, the control device starts acceptance of the operation of the touch pad as an operation on the application system that displays the screen on the center display.

A virtual human-machine interface system for a vehicle including at least one projection surface disposed within the vehicle and a corresponding virtual human-machine interface method for a vehicle are provided. The virtual human-machine interface system comprises at least one micro-mirror projection device for projecting an image on the at least one projection surface, at least one sensor for detecting commands given by a user by determining the position of a part of the user's body within the vehicle, and a control unit for controlling the human-machine interface system. The position of the image projected by the at least one projection device within the vehicle may be modified by a specific command given by the user.

A vehicle control apparatus comprises a shooting unit configured to shoot a periphery of a vehicle, a display unit configured to display an image shot by the shooting unit, an acquisition unit configured to acquire illuminance information regarding peripheral illuminance of the vehicle, and a control unit configured to control a display mode of the display unit based on the illuminance information acquired by the acquisition unit. The control unit changes the control of the display mode of the display unit between a case where peripheral illuminance of the vehicle increases and a case where the peripheral illuminance of the vehicle decreases.

A vehicle control apparatus comprises a shooting unit configured to shoot a periphery of a vehicle, a display unit configured to display an image shot by the shooting unit, an acquisition unit configured to acquire illuminance information regarding peripheral illuminance of the vehicle, and a control unit configured to control a display mode of the display unit based on the illuminance information acquired by the acquisition unit. At a predetermined timing pertaining to reception of an instruction relating to traveling of the vehicle, the acquisition unit starts acquiring the illuminance information, when the display unit starts displaying the image.

A head up display apparatus configured to display a virtual image corresponding to video to a driver by projecting the video onto a windshield of a vehicle, includes: a video display apparatus including an LED light source and a display element, the video display apparatus being configured to form the video on the display element; and a virtual image optical system configured to cause light emitted from the video display apparatus to be reflected by the windshield to display the virtual image in front of the vehicle. The virtual image optical system includes a concave mirror and an optical element, and a freeform surface of the concave mirror is set so that an optical axis of video light traveling from the concave mirror toward the windshield is inclined in a horizontal direction.

A method for pairing a key fob with a control unit is provided. The key fob executes an ID authenticated key agreement protocol with a pairing device based on a key fob identification to authenticate one another and to generate a first encryption key. The pairing device encrypts a control unit identification using the first encryption key. The key fob receives the encrypted control unit identification transmitted from the pairing device. The key fob then executes an ID authenticated key agreement protocol with the control unit based on the control unit identification to authenticate one another and to generate a second encryption key. The key fob then receives an operational key transmitted from the control unit that is encrypted with the second encryption key.

Modifying vehicle display parameters using operator gaze, including: detecting a gaze of an operator of a vehicle; and modifying one or more parameters of a display based on the gaze of the operator.

An image processing unit to be applied to a display controller includes a generation unit for generating a display image including a display element corresponding to a virtual image viewed by a user. The generation unit determines the planar shape of the display element such that a size of the virtual image viewed by the user changes on the basis of the viewpoint height of the user. Specifically, when the viewpoint height changes from a reference position to a position Normal or Short lower than the reference position, the generation unit determines the planar shape of an enlarged display element. The planar shapes of the virtual image in a real space viewed by the user may extend in the front direction and the rear direction.