Information processing apparatus

Abstract

The invention relates to an information processing device. A control unit of the information processing device detects that a vehicle enters a road rest facility provided with a charging facility. A control unit of the information processing device outputs a guide screen which is a screen indicating a travel path for the vehicle in the road rest facility and which includes a GUI component indicating a path from a current position of the vehicle to the charging facility, in response to detecting that the vehicle enters the road rest facility.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to an information processing device. Background Art

[0002] In a PHEV (Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle) or BEV (Battery Electric Vehicle), there is known an in-vehicle navigation system for a charging facility corresponding to the charging characteristics of a storage battery or the like (for example, refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2021-063766). Summary of the Invention

[0003] An object of the present disclosure is to provide a technique capable of appropriately guiding a user of a vehicle to a charging facility provided at a road rest facility.

[0004] One aspect of the present disclosure is an information processing device. In this case, the information processing device may include, for example, a control unit that performs: detecting that a vehicle has entered a road rest facility provided with a charging facility; and outputting a guidance screen based on detecting that the vehicle has entered the road rest facility, the guidance screen being a screen showing a driving route for a vehicle in the road rest facility and showing the position of the charging facility.

[0005] In addition, the present disclosure can also be understood as an information processing method in which a computer executes the processing of the information processing device, an information processing program for causing a computer to execute the information processing method, or a non-transitory storage medium storing the information processing program.

[0006] According to the present disclosure, a technique capable of appropriately guiding a user of a vehicle to a charging facility provided at a road rest facility can be provided. Brief Description of the Drawings

[0007] Hereinafter, features, advantages, techniques, and industrial importance of exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings, in which the same reference numerals denote the same components, where:

[0008] Figure 1 is a diagram schematically showing an example of the configuration of the system in the embodiment.

[0009] Figure 2 is a diagram for explaining an example of a method of detecting that a vehicle has entered a road rest facility in the embodiment.

[0010] Figure 3 is a diagram showing an example of the guidance screen in the embodiment.

[0011] Figure 4 is a diagram showing an example of the guidance screen with an enlarged scale in the embodiment.

[0012] Figure 5 It is a flowchart showing an example of a processing routine executed by the in-vehicle terminal in the embodiment.

[0013] Figure 6 It is a flowchart showing an example of a processing routine executed by the in-vehicle terminal in the modified example. Detailed implementation manners

[0014] When a user drives a vehicle equipped with a driving battery such as a BEV (Battery Electric Vehicle) on an exclusive road for automobiles such as a highway, the vehicle sometimes approaches a road rest facility such as an SA (Service Area) or a PA (Parking Area) to charge the battery. However, the driving roads for vehicles in the road rest facility are often restricted to one-way traffic. Therefore, there is a possibility that a user who detours to the road rest facility may drive the vehicle into a driving road where the charging facility cannot be reached. In this case, the battery of the vehicle cannot be charged, which may affect the subsequent driving of the vehicle. Therefore, a method for more reliably guiding the user of a vehicle approaching a road rest facility to the charging facility is required.

[0015] Therefore, in the information processing apparatus according to the present disclosure, it is detected that the vehicle enters a road rest facility provided with a charging facility. "Detecting that the vehicle enters the road rest facility" in the present disclosure may be detecting that the vehicle enters the access road to the road rest facility. In one example, such detection can be performed by comparing the current position of the vehicle with the position of the access road of the road rest facility. In another example, such detection can be performed by analyzing an image captured by a camera mounted on the vehicle.

[0016] In the information processing apparatus of the present disclosure, when it is detected that the vehicle enters the road rest facility, the control unit outputs a guidance screen based on this detection. The guidance screen according to the present disclosure is a screen showing the driving roads for vehicles in the road rest facility, and is a screen including a GUI component showing the path from the current position of the vehicle to the charging facility.

[0017] According to the information processing apparatus of the present disclosure, the user of the vehicle can reach the charging facility in the road rest facility by driving the vehicle along the path shown on the guidance screen.

[0018] In addition, the control unit of the information processing apparatus according to the present disclosure may also execute to increase the scale of the guidance screen as the distance between the vehicle and the charging facility becomes smaller. Thereby, the user of the vehicle can more accurately identify the path to the charging facility.

[0019] In addition, the control unit of the information processing apparatus according to the present disclosure may further execute: detecting that the vehicle has entered a driving road where a charging facility cannot be reached; and ending the output of the guidance screen based on detecting that the vehicle has entered a driving road where a charging facility cannot be reached. Thereby, in a case where the user has no intention of charging the vehicle's battery, such as when the user approaches a roadside rest facility for rest, it is possible to suppress unnecessary continuous display of the guidance screen. In addition, when ending the output of the guidance screen, the control unit of the information processing apparatus according to the present disclosure may also output information indicating that the vehicle's battery cannot be charged at the charging facility of the roadside rest facility.

[0020] In addition, the guidance screen in the present disclosure may also include information for identifying a driving road that can reach a charging facility from the current position of the vehicle and a driving road that cannot reach a charging facility from the current position of the vehicle. Thereby, it is possible to suppress a user who intends to charge the vehicle's battery from driving the vehicle into a driving road where a charging facility cannot be reached.

[0021] Hereinafter, specific embodiments of the present disclosure will be described based on the drawings. The hardware structure, module structure, functional structure, etc. described in the following embodiments are not intended to limit the technical scope of the disclosure only to them unless otherwise specified.

[0022] Embodiment

[0023] In the present embodiment, an example of applying the information processing apparatus according to the present disclosure to a system for guiding a roadside rest facility's charging facility to a user driving a vehicle (BEV) will be described.

[0024] Figure 1 FIG. schematically shows an example of the structure of the system in the present embodiment. In Figure 1 the example shown, the system in the present embodiment includes a vehicle 10 and an in-vehicle terminal 100 mounted on the vehicle 10. The vehicle 10 in the present embodiment is a BEV equipped with a driving battery 120, an electric motor 130, and an ECU (Electronic Control Unit) 110 for controlling the battery 120 and the electric motor 130. The electric motor 130 drives the vehicle 10 using the power of the battery 120. The battery 120 is a secondary battery that can be charged by an external power source. In addition, the vehicle 10 is not limited to a BEV and may also be a PHEV (Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle).

[0025] The in-vehicle terminal 100 in this embodiment is a computer with an automotive navigation function. The in-vehicle terminal 100 may also be composed only of an automotive navigation system mounted on a vehicle. Alternatively, the in-vehicle terminal 100 may be composed by combining multiple in-vehicle devices such as a DCM (Data Communication Module), a head unit, and an automotive navigation system. Such an in-vehicle terminal 100 is connected to the ECU 110 through an in-vehicle network based on standards such as CAN (Controller Area Network), LIN (Local Interconnect Network), or FlexRay. In addition, the in-vehicle terminal 100 may be a computer in a portable computer (such as a smart phone, a tablet terminal, etc.) used by the user of the vehicle 10, in which an application program for automotive navigation is installed. In this case, the in-vehicle terminal 100 can be connected to the ECU 110 through wireless communication based on the BLE standard.

[0026] The in-vehicle terminal 100 in this embodiment is configured as a computer having a processor (such as a CPU or GPU), a main storage device (such as a RAM and a ROM), and an auxiliary storage device (such as an EPROM, a hard disk drive, and a removable medium). In this embodiment, the in-vehicle terminal 100 corresponds to the information processing device related to this disclosure. As Figure 1 shown, the in-vehicle terminal 100 in this embodiment is configured to include a control unit 101, a storage unit 102, a communication I / F 103, an input / output device 104, a position sensor 105, etc.

[0027] The control unit 101 realizes various functions described later by executing a dedicated program stored in the storage unit 102. As an example, the control unit 101 is configured to include a hardware processor such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) or a DSP (Digital Signal Processor). In addition, the control unit 101 may also be configured to further include a RAM, a ROM, and a cache memory, etc. Among them, the details of the functions realized by the control unit 101 will be described later.

[0028] The storage unit 102 is configured to include an auxiliary storage device and store various types of information. Additionally, the storage unit 102 may also be a storage area constructed in the auxiliary storage device. Among the information stored in the storage unit 102, in addition to the OS, it also includes programs for car navigation and data utilized by such programs. The data stored in the storage unit 102 in the present embodiment includes map data D200. In the map data D200 in the present embodiment, in addition to road map data, it also includes map data of each of a plurality of road rest facilities. Furthermore, in the map data in the present embodiment, it also contains information for identifying whether a charging facility (an external power supply facility for charging the battery 120 of the vehicle 10) is provided in each of the plurality of road rest facilities.

[0029] The communication I / F 103 includes a communication interface for connecting the in-vehicle terminal 100 to the in-vehicle network, and a wireless communication interface for connecting the in-vehicle terminal 100 to an out-of-vehicle network (e.g., a WAN (Wide Area Network) such as the Internet as a worldwide public communication network, and a wireless communication network such as Wi-Fi (registered trademark), etc.). In one example, the communication I / F 103 may include a communication interface for mobile communication (e.g., 3G, LTE, 5G, 6G, etc.) and a wireless communication interface for short-range wireless communication. The communication I / F 103 of the present embodiment communicates with the ECU 110 of the vehicle 10 via the in-vehicle network. Furthermore, the communication I / F 103 of the present embodiment communicates with out-of-vehicle devices using wireless communication.

[0030] The input / output device 104 accepts input operations from the user of the vehicle and presents information to the user. The input / output device 104 includes, for example, an input device such as a touch panel or buttons capable of inputting symbols such as characters, and a microphone capable of inputting sound. Furthermore, the input / output device 104 includes an output device such as a display or a speaker. In one example, the input / output device 104 may be configured to include a touch panel display capable of inputting and outputting and a speaker.

[0031] The position sensor 105 obtains position information (e.g., latitude, longitude) indicating the current position of the vehicle. In one example, the position sensor 105 may be configured to include a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver. In another example, the position sensor 105 may be configured to include a wireless communication circuit utilizing the position information service of Wi-Fi (registered trademark).

[0032] Next, the details of the control unit 101 of the in-vehicle terminal 100 will be described. The control unit 101 of the in-vehicle terminal 100 has a function of guiding the route to the destination set by the user and a function of displaying a road map screen including the current position of the vehicle 10 on the input / output device 104. In addition, it also has a function of displaying a guidance screen of the road rest facility on the input / output device 104 when it is detected that the vehicle 10 enters a road rest facility such as an SA or PA.

[0033] Figure 2 It is a diagram for explaining an example of a method for detecting that the vehicle 10 enters a road rest facility. Figure 2 It shows the state where the vehicle 10 enters the access road AL1 of the road rest facility from the driving lane of the highway. Here, as one of the functions of the car navigation system, it has a function of obtaining the current position of the vehicle 10 through the position sensor 105 at a predetermined cycle (for example, every several tens of milliseconds to several hundreds of milliseconds) and displaying the obtained current position of the vehicle 10 on the map. In the present embodiment, by using this function, the control unit 101 compares the current position of the vehicle 10 with the position of the access road AL1 of the road rest facility to determine whether the vehicle 10 has entered the access road AL1 of the road rest facility. In addition, when a camera for photographing the front of the vehicle 10 is mounted on the vehicle 10, it is also possible to determine whether the vehicle 10 has entered the access road AL1 of the road rest facility by analyzing the image captured by the camera.

[0034] In the present embodiment, the control unit 101 detects that the vehicle 10 has invaded the road rest facility based on the determination that the vehicle 10 has entered the access road AL1 of the road rest facility. When it is detected that the vehicle 10 has invaded the road rest facility, the control unit 101 of the present embodiment determines whether a charging facility is provided in the road rest facility based on the map data in the storage unit 102. When it is determined that a charging facility is provided in the road rest facility, the control unit 101 of the present embodiment accesses the map data in the storage unit 102 and extracts the map data inside the road rest facility. Then, the control unit 101 generates a guidance screen of the road rest facility using the extracted map data and outputs (displays) the generated guidance screen to the input / output device 104.

[0035] Figure 3 It is a diagram showing an example of a guidance screen inside a road rest facility. In Figure 3 the example shown, the guidance screen includes the facility name of the road rest facility ( Figure 3 "○○ Service Area" in Figure 3The positions of the "rest area" and "toilet" (etc.), the positions of the multiple vehicle driving roads provided in the roadside rest facility, the position of the parking space provided in the roadside rest facility, the position of the charging facility provided in the roadside rest facility, the current position of the vehicle 10, the GUI component indicating the path from the current position of the vehicle 10 to the charging facility ( Figure 3 the solid arrow G1 in), the GUI component indicating the traveling direction of the multiple vehicle driving roads ( Figure 3 the hollow arrow G2 in), and the GUI component for identifying the driving road that cannot reach the charging facility ( Figure 3 the × mark G3 in), etc.

[0036] In addition, when the vehicle 10 is equipped with a camera that captures the front of the vehicle 10, a screen in which a GUI component (such as an arrow mark, etc.) indicating the path to the charging facility is overlapped on the image captured by the camera can also be used as a guidance screen.

[0037] In addition, when the vehicle 10 travels along the path shown on the above guidance screen, the control unit 101 calculates the distance between the current position of the vehicle 10 and the position of the charging facility. The smaller the calculated distance, the larger the scale of the guidance screen is expanded. The distance between the current position of the vehicle 10 and the position of the charging facility mentioned here is the distance between the current position of the vehicle 10 and the position of the charging facility on the path shown on the above guidance screen. Figure 4 is a diagram showing an example of a guidance screen with an enlarged scale. In Figure 4 the example shown, only the area including the path from the current position of the vehicle 10 to the charging facility in the map within the roadside rest facility is enlarged and displayed. Then, when the current position of the vehicle 10 coincides with the position of the charging facility (the vehicle 10 arrives at the charging facility), the control unit 101 ends the display of the guidance screen and causes the input / output device 104 to display a normal map screen.

[0038] In addition, in the state where the above guidance screen is displayed, when the vehicle 10 enters a driving road that cannot reach the charging facility (for example, in Figure 2 and Figure 3 the driving road with the × mark G3 shown), the control unit 101 ends the display of the guidance screen and causes the input / output device 104 to display a normal map screen. At this time, the control unit 101 can also output information indicating that the charging facility in this roadside rest facility cannot charge the battery 120 to the input / output device 104.

[0039] Process flow

[0040] Here, based on Figure 5 the process flow of the processing executed by the in-vehicle terminal 100 in this embodiment will be described.Figure 5 This is a flowchart showing an example of a processing routine that is executed in the in-vehicle terminal 100 at a predetermined cycle (e.g., every several tens of milliseconds to several hundreds of milliseconds) when the vehicle 10 is traveling (e.g., when the ignition switch or power switch is in the ON state).

[0041] In Figure 5 the processing routine, the control unit 101 of the in-vehicle terminal 100 acquires the current position of the vehicle 10 through the position sensor 105 (S101). After executing the process of S101, the control unit 101 executes the process of S102.

[0042] In S102, the control unit 101 determines whether the vehicle 10 has entered the access road AL1 of the roadside rest facility by comparing the current position of the vehicle 10 acquired in S101 with the map data in the storage unit 102. Specifically, the control unit 101 determines whether the current position of the vehicle 10 coincides with the position of the access road AL1 of any one of the multiple roadside rest facilities included in the map data. When the current position of the vehicle 10 does not coincide with the position of the access road AL1 of any one of the multiple roadside rest facilities included in the map data, the control unit 101 determines that the vehicle 10 has not entered the access road AL1 of the roadside rest facility (negative determination in S102). In this case, the control unit 101 ends the execution of this processing routine. On the other hand, when the current position of the vehicle 10 coincides with the position of the access road AL1 of any one of the multiple roadside rest facilities included in the map data, the control unit 101 determines that the vehicle 10 has entered the access road AL1 of the roadside rest facility (positive determination in S102). In this case, the control unit 101 executes the process of S103.

[0043] In S103, the control unit 101 determines whether a charging facility is provided at the roadside rest facility corresponding to the access road AL1 entered by the vehicle 10 based on the map data in the storage unit 102. When no charging facility is provided at this roadside rest facility (negative determination in S103), the control unit 101 ends the execution of this processing routine. On the other hand, when a charging facility is provided at this roadside rest facility (positive determination in S103), the control unit 101 executes the process of S104.

[0044] In S104, the control unit 101 displays a guidance screen corresponding to this roadside rest facility on the input / output device 104. Specifically, the control unit 101 first accesses the map data in the storage unit 102 and extracts the map data within this roadside rest facility. Then, the control unit 101 uses the extracted map data to generate using the aforementioned Figure 3Explain the guidance screen as described. Then, the control unit 101 displays the generated guidance screen on the input / output device 104. After executing the process of S104, the control unit 101 executes the process of S105.

[0045] In S105, the control unit 101 obtains the current position of the vehicle 10 through the position sensor 105. After executing the process of S105, the control unit 101 executes the process of S106.

[0046] In S106, the control unit 101 determines whether the vehicle 10 is traveling along the path displayed on the above-mentioned guidance screen. When the vehicle 10 is traveling along the path displayed on the above-mentioned guidance screen (positive determination in S106), the control unit 101 executes the process of S107.

[0047] In S107, the control unit 101 calculates the distance from the current position of the vehicle 10 to the charging facility based on the current position of the vehicle 10 obtained in S105 and the position of the charging facility within the road rest facility. After executing the process of S107, the control unit 101 executes the process of S108.

[0048] In S108, the control unit 101 enlarges the scale of the guidance screen based on the distance calculated in S107. In one example, as described above, the control unit 101 can enlarge and display the area in the map within the road rest facility that only includes the path from the current position of the vehicle 10 to the charging facility. After executing the process of S108, the control unit 101 executes the process of S109. Figure 4 As described above, the control unit 101 can enlarge and display the area in the map within the road rest facility that only includes the path from the current position of the vehicle 10 to the charging facility. After executing the process of S108, the control unit 101 executes the process of S109.

[0049] In S109, the control unit 101 obtains the current position of the vehicle 10 through the position sensor 105. After executing the process of S109, the control unit 101 executes the process of S110.

[0050] In S110, the control unit 101 determines whether the vehicle 10 has reached the charging facility based on the current position of the vehicle 10 obtained in S109 and the position of the charging facility within the road rest facility. At this time, if the current position of the vehicle 10 obtained in S109 does not match the position of the charging facility within the road rest facility, the control unit 101 determines that the vehicle 10 has not reached the charging facility (negative determination in S110). In this case, the control unit 101 executes the processes after S105 again. On the other hand, if the current position of the vehicle 10 obtained in S109 matches the position of the charging facility within the road rest facility, the control unit 101 determines that the vehicle 10 has reached the charging facility (positive determination in S110). In this case, the control unit 101 executes the process of S111.

[0051] In S111, the control unit 101 ends the display of the guidance screen, and causes the input / output device 104 to display a normal map screen. After executing the process of S111, the control unit 101 ends the execution of this processing routine.

[0052] In addition, in the above-mentioned S106, when the vehicle 10 enters a driving route that cannot reach the charging facility (for example, Figure 2 as well as Figure 3 In the case where the vehicle 10 is not traveling along the route shown in the guidance screen (a driving route with an × mark G3 is displayed in the figure), the control unit 101 determines that the vehicle 10 is not traveling along the route shown in the guidance screen (negative determination in S106). In this case, the control unit 101 proceeds to S111, ends the display of the guidance screen, and causes the input / output device 104 to display a normal map screen. At this time, as described above, the control unit 101 may also output to the input / output device 104 information indicating that the battery 120 cannot be charged at the charging facility of the road rest facility.

[0053] Functions and effects of implementation methods

[0054] In the above-described embodiment, the vehicle-mounted terminal 100 displays a screen showing a driving path in the road rest facility upon detecting that the vehicle has entered a road rest facility where a charging facility is installed, and the screen is a guidance screen including a GUI component showing a path from the current position of the vehicle 10 to the charging facility, a GUI component for identifying driving paths that cannot reach the charging facility from the current position of the vehicle 10, and a GUI component showing the travel direction of each driving path. Thus, the user of the vehicle 10 can reach the charging facility in the road rest facility by driving the vehicle 10 along the path displayed on the guidance screen. As a result, the user who goes to the road rest facility for the purpose of charging the battery 120 of the vehicle 10 can reach the charging facility more reliably.

[0055] In the present embodiment, the smaller the distance between the vehicle 10 and the charging facility in the roadside rest facility, the larger the scale of the guidance screen is displayed by the vehicle terminal 100. This allows the user of the vehicle 10 to more accurately recognize the route to the charging facility.

[0056] Furthermore, in this embodiment, the vehicle-mounted terminal 100 stops outputting the guidance screen when it is detected that the vehicle 10 has entered a driving road that cannot reach the charging facility. Thus, when the user of the vehicle 10 does not intend to charge the battery 120 of the vehicle 10, such as when the user stops by a roadside rest facility for the purpose of resting, it is possible to suppress unnecessary continuous display of the guidance screen. Thus, it is possible to suppress the user of the vehicle 10 from getting annoyed.

[0057] Therefore, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to appropriately guide the user of the vehicle 10 to the charging facility provided in the roadside rest facility.

[0058] Modification

[0059] In the above-described embodiment, an example is described in which when it is detected that the vehicle 10 enters the roadside rest facility provided with the charging facility, the in-vehicle terminal 100 displays a guidance screen. In contrast, in this modification, an example is described in which when it is detected that the vehicle 10 enters the roadside rest facility provided with the charging facility, the in-vehicle terminal 100 outputs a guidance screen on the condition that the remaining amount (battery remaining amount) of the battery 120 of the vehicle 10 is less than a threshold value.

[0060] Here, when the user of the vehicle 10 stops at the roadside rest facility for the purpose of rest, there is a possibility that the battery margin is relatively large (the necessity of charging the battery 120 is low). In such a case, when the in-vehicle terminal 100 displays the guidance screen, the user may feel troublesome. Therefore, in this modification, when it is detected that the vehicle 10 enters the roadside rest facility provided with the charging facility, if the battery margin is equal to or more than the threshold value, the in-vehicle terminal 100 does not display the guidance screen. As an example, the battery margin referred to here may be the SOC (State Of Charge) of the battery 120. In addition, as an example, the threshold value referred to here may be the battery margin required for the vehicle 10 to travel to the destination set by the user. As another example, the threshold value may be a preset fixed value (for example, 80%).

[0061] The control unit 101 of the in-vehicle terminal 100 in this modification communicates with the ECU 110 through the communication I / F 103 according to the situation that it is detected that the vehicle 10 enters the roadside rest facility provided with the charging facility, thereby obtaining the battery margin (SOC). Then, the control unit 101 determines whether the SOC is equal to or more than the threshold value. When the SOC is less than the threshold value, the control unit 101 displays the guidance screen on the input / output device 104. On the other hand, when the SOC is equal to or more than the threshold value, the control unit 101 does not display the guidance screen on the input / output device 104.

[0062] Flow of processing

[0063] Here, based on Figure 6 The flow of processing executed by the in-vehicle terminal 100 in this modification will be described. Figure 6 It is a flowchart showing an example of a processing routine executed in the in-vehicle terminal 100 at a predetermined cycle when the vehicle 10 is traveling. In addition, in Figure 6 the same processing as the above Figure 5 is given the same reference numerals. Here, the same as the above Figure 5Different processes will be described. For those that are the same as the above Figure 5 the description will be omitted.

[0064] In Figure 6 the processing routine, when the determination in S103 is affirmative, the control unit 101 of the in-vehicle terminal 100 executes the process of S201. In S201, the control unit 101 communicates with the ECU 110 via the communication I / F 103, thereby obtaining the SOC (remaining battery level) of the battery 120. After the control unit 101 finishes executing the process of S202, it executes the process of S202.

[0065] In step S202, the control unit 101 determines whether the remaining battery level obtained in step S201 is less than the threshold value. As described above, the threshold value can be the remaining battery level required for the vehicle 10 to travel to the destination set by the user, or it can also be a preset fixed value (for example, 80%). When the remaining battery level is above the threshold value (negative determination in S202), the control unit 101 ends the execution of this processing routine. On the other hand, when the remaining battery level is less than the threshold value (affirmative determination in S202), the control unit 101 executes the processes after S104.

[0066] According to the above-described modification example, the in-vehicle terminal 100 can display the guidance screen only when the remaining battery level when the vehicle 10 enters the road rest facility provided with the charging facility is less than the threshold value. Thereby, it is possible to suppress the situation where the user of the vehicle 10 feels bored.

[0067] Other

[0068] The above-described embodiments are merely examples, and the present disclosure can be appropriately modified and implemented without departing from its gist. For example, the function of generating the guidance screen among the functions of the in-vehicle terminal 100 can also be performed by an external device (for example, a server, etc.) connected to the in-vehicle terminal 100 via a network.

[0069] The present disclosure can also be implemented by providing a computer program (information processing program) that installs the functions described in the above embodiments to a computer, and reading and executing the program by one or more processors included in the computer. Such a computer program can be provided to the computer by a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that can be connected to the system bus of the computer, or can also be provided to the computer via a network. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium is a recording medium that can accumulate information such as data and programs by electrical, magnetic, optical, mechanical, or chemical actions and can be read from a computer or the like. As such a recording medium, for example, any type of disk such as a magnetic disk (e.g., a floppy disk (registered trademark) or an HDD) or an optical disk (e.g., a CD-ROM, a DVD disk, or a Blu-ray disk) can be exemplified. In addition, the recording medium can also be a medium such as a ROM, a RAM, an EPROM, an EEPROM, a magnetic card, a flash memory, an optical card, or an SSD (Solid State Drive).

Claims

1. An information processing apparatus, wherein: it includes a control unit that performs: detecting that a vehicle enters a road rest facility provided with a charging facility; and in response to detecting that the vehicle enters the road rest facility, outputting a guidance screen that is a screen showing a driving route for the vehicle in the road rest facility and that includes a GUI component showing a path from the current position of the vehicle to the charging facility.

2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: the control unit further performs: the smaller the distance between the vehicle and the charging facility, the larger the scale of the guidance screen is enlarged.

3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: the control unit further performs: detecting that the vehicle enters the driving road where the charging facility cannot be reached; and ending the output of the guidance screen according to detecting that the vehicle enters the driving road where the charging facility cannot be reached.

4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: the guidance screen includes information for identifying the driving route that can reach the charging facility from the current position of the vehicle and the driving route that cannot reach the charging facility from the current position of the vehicle.

5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: outputting the guidance screen includes: obtaining the remaining amount of the battery mounted on the vehicle, i.e., the battery remaining amount; and outputting the guidance screen according to the battery remaining amount being less than a threshold value.

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