Parking space suggestion device and parking space suggestion method

Abstract

To provide a parking space proposal device for proposing a parking space to be recommended by taking the entire route on which a wheelchair user patrols in a facility into consideration.SOLUTION: In a parking space proposal device 10, a destination information acquisition part 11 acquires information of a destination of a wheelchair user boarding on an own vehicle. A vacant parking space information acquisition part 12 acquires information of vacant parking spaces existing around the destination. A candidate route search part 15 searches candidate routes from a vacant parking space where the wheelchair user gets off the own vehicle to the vacant parking space which the wheelchair user returns to through the destination which the wheelchair user moves into and moves out of. A movement difficulty calculation part 16 calculates movement difficulty of the candidate routes on the basis of barrier-free information. A recommended route selection part 17 selects a route having the minimum movement difficulty among the candidate routes for a vacant parking space as a recommended route of the vacant parking space. A recommended parking space selection part 18 selects, as a recommended parking space, a parking space associated with the recommended route having the minimum movement difficulty among vacant parking spaces.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a parking space suggestion device that suggests recommended parking spaces for vehicles carrying wheelchair users in parking lots. [Background technology]

[0002] For example, Patent Document 1 below proposes a navigation device that can guide vehicles carrying wheelchair users to parking spaces in a parking lot, taking into consideration the mobility difficulties of wheelchair users. The navigation device in Patent Document 1 sets a route for the vehicle in relation to the destination facility so as to guide the vehicle to an entrance with few steps or stairs, a parking space (also called a "parking space") closest to the entrance, or a parking space reserved for wheelchairs. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-107150 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] The technology in Patent Document 1 selects parking stalls taking into consideration the difficulty of wheelchair users traveling from the parking stall to the facility entrance. However, it does not consider the difficulty of wheelchair users traveling along the entire route they take to get around the facility, that is, the route they take from the parking stall to their destination within the facility and back to the parking stall.

[0005] The present disclosure has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and aims to provide a parking space suggestion device that suggests recommended parking spaces by taking into consideration the entire route that a wheelchair user will take around a facility. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The parking space suggestion device according to the present disclosure includes a destination information acquisition unit that acquires information about the destination of a wheelchair user in the subject vehicle; a vacant parking space information acquisition unit that acquires information about the locations of vacant parking spaces in parking lots around the destination; a candidate route search unit that searches for candidate routes for the wheelchair user to get off the subject vehicle at a vacant parking space, travel to the destination, and return to the vacant parking space; a travel difficulty calculation unit that calculates the travel difficulty level of the candidate route based on barrier-free information of the detected candidate route; a recommended route selection unit that selects the route with the smallest travel difficulty level from among the candidate routes for the vacant parking space as a recommended route for the vacant parking space; a recommended parking space selection unit that selects the parking space with the smallest travel difficulty level for the recommended route from among the vacant parking spaces as a recommended parking space; and an output unit that presents the recommended parking space to the occupants of the subject vehicle. [Effects of the Invention]

[0007] According to the parking space suggestion device of the present disclosure, it is possible to suggest recommended parking spaces by taking into consideration the entire route that a wheelchair user will take around the facility. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a parking space proposing system according to a first embodiment. [Figure 2] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of parameters used to calculate the degree of travel difficulty of a candidate route. [Figure 3] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a commercial facility. [Figure 4] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a recommended parking space display. [Figure 5] 10 is a flowchart showing the operation of the parking space suggestion device. [Figure 6] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of the hardware configuration of the parking stall suggestion device. [Figure 7] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of the hardware configuration of the parking stall suggestion device. [Figure 8] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the configuration of a parking space proposing system according to a second embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0009] <First Embodiment> Fig. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a parking stall proposal system according to embodiment 1. As shown in Fig. 1, the parking stall proposal system according to embodiment 1 includes a parking stall proposal device 10, a navigation system 21, a positioning device 22, a facility information storage device 23, an environmental information acquisition device 24, an information input device 25, a display device 26, a MaaS (Mobility as a Service) reservation system 31, and a parking lot vacancy information providing system 32.

[0010] In this embodiment, the parking stall proposal device 10 is assumed to be mounted on a vehicle, and hereinafter, the vehicle on which the parking stall proposal device 10 is mounted will be referred to as the "host vehicle." Note that the parking stall proposal device 10 does not have to be permanently installed on the host vehicle, and may be implemented on a portable device that can be carried on the host vehicle, such as a mobile phone, smartphone, or PND (Portable Navigation Device).

[0011] The navigation system 21, positioning device 22, facility information storage device 23, information input device 25, environmental information acquisition device 24, and display device 26 are mounted on the vehicle. On the other hand, the MaaS reservation system 31 and parking space availability information providing system 32 are installed outside the vehicle and are servers capable of communicating with the parking space suggestion device 10. The facility information storage device 23 may also be a server installed outside the vehicle.

[0012] The navigation system 21 is a system that sets a route from the current position of the vehicle to a destination set by a passenger in the vehicle and provides route guidance to the driver of the vehicle. In this embodiment, the navigation system 21 is used to provide information about the set destination to the parking space proposal device 10. The navigation system 21 may also be realized on a portable device that can be carried in the vehicle.

[0013] The positioning device 22 measures the position of the vehicle based on positioning signals and augmentation signals from a GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System). Here, the positioning device 22 is assumed to be capable of measuring the position of the vehicle with enough accuracy to identify the position of each parking stall in the parking lot.

[0014] The facility information storage device 23 is a storage medium that stores information about facilities in various locations that can be set as destinations. The facility information stored in the facility information storage device 23 includes the location of the facility, the location of stores within the facility, information about parking lots around the facility, information about roads from the parking lots to the facility, and information about passageways within the facility. In particular, the information about roads from parking lots to the facility and information about passageways within the facility includes barrier-free information about the roads and passageways. As will be described in more detail below, the barrier-free information includes one or more of the door type, slope shape, parking lot floor level, road surface step, presence or absence of a roof, parking stall shape, route shape, road surface condition, and travel distance.

[0015] The environmental information acquisition device 24 is a device that acquires environmental information of a destination predicted for a specific period via communication. The environmental information is information that predicts the environment of the destination that will change over time, such as weather forecast information around the destination and predicted congestion information for facilities that include the destination.

[0016] The information input device 25 is an input means for inputting various information to the parking stall proposal device 10. The display device 26 is an output means having a screen on which the parking stall proposal device 10 presents information to the user in the form of text and images. The information input device 25 may be hardware keys such as a keyboard or an operating lever, or software keys displayed on the screen of the display device 26. The information input device 25 may also include a reading device that reads information from a storage medium such as a USB (Universal Serial Bus) memory and inputs the information to the parking stall proposal device 10.

[0017] The MaaS reservation system 31 is a system that holds reservation information for MaaS services. Since the reservation information for MaaS services includes information about the user's destination, the MaaS reservation system 31 can provide the destination information to the parking space proposal device 10 instead of the navigation system 21. Therefore, either the navigation system 21 or the MaaS reservation system 31 may be omitted.

[0018] The parking lot availability information providing system 32 is an information distribution system that provides location information of available parking spaces in a parking lot.

[0019] As shown in Figure 1, the parking space suggestion device 10 includes a destination information acquisition unit 11, an empty parking space information acquisition unit 12, a vehicle position information acquisition unit 13, an empty parking space distance calculation unit 14, a candidate route search unit 15, a travel difficulty calculation unit 16, a recommended route selection unit 17, a recommended parking space selection unit 18, and an output unit 19.

[0020] The destination information acquisition unit 11 acquires information on the destination of the wheelchair user who is in the vehicle from the navigation system 21 or the MaaS reservation system 31.

[0021] The vacant parking space information acquisition unit 12 acquires information about vacant parking spaces in parking lots around the destination from the vacant parking space information providing system 32. The vacant parking space information acquired by the vacant parking space information acquisition unit 12 includes at least information about the location of the vacant parking space, and may also include information such as the type of vacant parking space (priority parking space / normal parking space) and the size and width of the vacant parking space.

[0022] The vehicle position information acquisition unit 13 acquires information on the position of the vehicle from the positioning device 22 .

[0023] The vacant parking space distance calculation unit 14 calculates the travel distance from the host vehicle to the vacant parking space based on the position of the vacant parking space acquired by the vacant parking space information acquisition unit 12 and the position of the host vehicle acquired by the host vehicle position information acquisition unit 13. If there are multiple vacant parking spaces, the vacant parking space distance calculation unit 14 calculates the travel distance from the host vehicle to each vacant parking space.

[0024] The candidate route searching unit 15 acquires information about the facility that the destination acquired by the destination information acquiring unit 11 belongs to from the facility information storage device 23, and based on that information, searches for candidate routes (hereinafter referred to as "candidate routes") for a wheelchair user to get off their vehicle at an empty parking space, travel to their destination, and return to that empty parking space. If there are multiple empty parking spaces, the candidate route searching unit 15 searches for candidate routes for each empty parking space. Multiple candidate routes may be detected for one empty parking space. Note that if there are multiple destinations for wheelchair users around one parking lot, the candidate route searching unit 15 searches for candidate routes from getting off their vehicle at an empty parking space, traveling around the multiple destinations, and returning to that empty parking space.

[0025] The travel difficulty level calculation unit 16 acquires barrier-free information of the facility to which the destination belongs from the facility information storage device 23, and calculates the travel difficulty level of the candidate route detected by the candidate route search unit 15 based on the barrier-free information. At this time, the travel difficulty level calculation unit 16 may also take into account information on the type of facility to which the destination belongs when calculating the travel difficulty level. When multiple candidate routes have been detected, the travel difficulty level calculation unit 16 calculates the travel difficulty level of each candidate route.

[0026] The travel difficulty calculation unit 16 may acquire, from the environmental information acquisition device 24, environmental information about the destination (e.g., weather forecast information around the destination, predicted congestion at the facility to which the destination belongs, etc.) that is predicted for the period during which the wheelchair user will stay at the destination facility (specifically, the period from when the wheelchair user gets out of their vehicle at an empty parking space until they return to that empty parking space), and calculate the travel difficulty level of the candidate route by taking the environmental information into consideration. The period during which the wheelchair user will stay at the destination facility can be predicted, for example, from the vehicle's travel plan and the planned stay time at the destination obtained from the navigation system 21 or the MaaS reservation system 31, and information about the destination facility (e.g., the distance from the parking space to the destination) obtained from the facility information storage device 23.

[0027] Furthermore, a user of the parking space suggestion device 10 can use the information input device 25 to input information such as whether the wheelchair user is accompanied by an attendant, the attendant's skill level, and the type of wheelchair used by the wheelchair user to the movement difficulty calculation unit 16, and the movement difficulty calculation unit 16 may take this information into account when calculating the movement difficulty of a candidate route. The skill level of an attendant is the degree of familiarity with accompanying wheelchair users, and for example, a caregiver or other person who is accustomed to accompanying wheelchair users is evaluated as having a high skill level, while a person who is not accustomed to accompanying wheelchair users is evaluated as having a low skill level.

[0028] The recommended route selection unit 17 selects a route (hereinafter referred to as the "recommended route") that is recommended for a wheelchair user to stop at their destination from a vacant parking space. If the movement difficulty calculation unit 16 detects multiple candidate routes for one vacant parking space, the recommended route selection unit 17 selects the route with the smallest movement difficulty among the multiple candidate routes as the recommended route for that vacant parking space. If only one candidate route is detected for one vacant parking space, the recommended route selection unit 17 sets that candidate route as the recommended route for that vacant parking space. If there are multiple vacant parking spaces, the recommended route selection unit 17 selects a recommended route for each vacant parking space.

[0029] The recommended parking space selection unit 18 selects a parking space (hereinafter referred to as "recommended parking space") that is recommended for wheelchair users to stop at their destination. If there are multiple vacant parking spaces, the recommended parking space selection unit 18 selects the parking space with the smallest degree of travel difficulty for the recommended route as the recommended parking space. If there are multiple vacant parking spaces with the smallest degree of travel difficulty for the recommended route, the recommended parking space selection unit 18 refers to the driving distance from the vehicle to each vacant parking space calculated by the vacant parking space distance calculation unit 14, and selects the parking space closest to the vehicle (i.e., the parking space with the shortest driving distance from the vehicle) as the recommended parking space from the multiple vacant parking spaces with the smallest degree of travel difficulty. If there is only one vacant parking space, the recommended route selection unit 17 selects that vacant parking space as the recommended parking space.

[0030] The output unit 19 uses the display device 26 to present the recommended parking space selected by the recommended parking space selection unit 18 to the passenger of the vehicle.

[0031] A specific example of the operation of the parking stall suggestion device 10 is described below. When the travel difficulty calculation unit 16 calculates the travel difficulty of a candidate route, the parameters shown in FIG. 2 are used. Parameters #1 to #9 shown in FIG. 2 (i.e., door type, slope shape, parking lot floor, road level difference, presence or absence of roof, parking stall shape, route shape, road surface condition, and travel distance) are obtained from the barrier-free information included in the facility information stored in the facility information storage device 23. Parameters #10 and #11 (wheelchair type, attendant skill level) are input from the information input device 25, and parameter #12 (facility type) is obtained from the facility information stored in the facility information storage device 23. Note that the evaluation value of parameter #12 is high when the facility type is a commercial facility because shopping at a commercial facility increases the likelihood of wheelchair users having more baggage and therefore a higher degree of travel difficulty.

[0032] In the example of Figure 2, the evaluation values ​​of parameters #1, #2, and #4 (door type, slope shape, road step) take into account whether or not there is an attendant, the evaluation value of parameter #5 (roof presence / absence) takes into account the weather forecast, and the evaluation value of parameter #7 (route shape) takes into account predicted congestion at the facility. Although not shown in Figure 2, the evaluation value of parameter #8 (road surface condition) may also take into account weather forecasts such as snow accumulation and frozen roads.

[0033] The travel difficulty calculation unit 16 calculates the travel difficulty of a candidate route by adding the evaluation values ​​of parameters #1 to #9 according to the features present on the candidate route. Parameters #10 to #12 are used when this information is input to the candidate route search unit 15. Since parameters #10 to #12 are parameters that affect the entire candidate route, they are multiplied as coefficients by the evaluation values ​​of parameters #1 to #9 or their total value.

[0034] For example, assume that the destinations of a wheelchair user in their vehicle are Store X and Store Y in the commercial facility shown in Figure 3, and that they are set to stop at Store X first, then Store Y. The wheelchair of the wheelchair user is a seat-type wheelchair, and they are accompanied by a highly skilled attendant. The weather forecast for the period of their stay at the destination is sunny, and congestion is predicted to be at a normal level. To simplify the explanation, assume that there are two vacant parking spaces in the parking lot, Parking Space A and Parking Space B, and that the distance between vacant parking space A and vacant parking space B, the distance between vacant parking space A and Store Y, the distance between vacant parking space B and Store X, and the distance between Store X and Store Y are all the same, and the normalized values ​​of these distances are 1. Also, assume that the parking lot is one-way, following the arrows shown in Figure 3.

[0035] In the example of FIG. 3, vacant parking space information acquisition unit 12 of parking space proposal device 10 acquires information on vacant parking spaces A and B. In addition, vacant parking space distance calculation unit 14 calculates the driving distance between vacant parking spaces A and B and the vehicle. Candidate route search unit 15 detects, for each of vacant parking spaces A and B, a candidate route that uses slope P to go around stores X and Y, and a candidate route that uses slope Q to go around stores X and Y.

[0036] In this case, the travel difficulty calculation unit 16 calculates the travel difficulty of each candidate route as follows: In the formula below, the evaluation value m of parameter #n is expressed as "pn(m)." For example, "p1(3)" indicates that there is an attendant, there is a swing door on the candidate route, and the evaluation value of parameter #1 is 3.

[0037] The difficulty of the proposed route from vacant parking space A to stores X and Y using slope P is: {p8(0)+p2(1)+p1(3)+p9(4)}×p10(1)×p11(1)×p12(1.1)=8.8 It is calculated as follows.

[0038] The difficulty of the proposed route from vacant parking space A to stores X and Y using slope Q is: {p8(1)+p2(3)+p1(0)+p9(6)}×p10(1)×p11(1)×p12(1.1)=11.0 It is calculated as follows.

[0039] The difficulty of the proposed route from vacant parking space B to stores X and Y using slope P is: {p8(0)+p2(1)+p1(3)+p9(6)}×p10(1)×p11(1)×p12(1.1)=11.0 It is calculated as follows.

[0040] The difficulty of the proposed route from vacant parking space B to stores X and Y using slope Q is: {p8(1)+p2(3)+p1(0)+p9(4)}×p10(1)×p11(1)×p12(1.1)=8.8 It is calculated as follows.

[0041] Based on these calculation results, the recommended route selection unit 17 selects a route that uses slope P as the recommended route for vacant parking space A, and selects a route that uses slope Q as the recommended route for vacant parking space B.

[0042] Furthermore, the recommended parking space selection unit 18 compares the degree of travel difficulty of the recommended route (route using slope P) for vacant parking space A with the degree of travel difficulty of the recommended route (route using slope Q) for vacant parking space B, and selects the vacant parking space corresponding to the lower degree of travel difficulty as the recommended parking space. However, in this case, the degree of travel difficulty of the recommended route (route using slope P) for vacant parking space A is equal to the degree of travel difficulty of the recommended route (route using slope Q) for vacant parking space B, so the recommended parking space selection unit 18 selects the vacant parking space A that is closer to the vehicle (i.e., the one with the shorter driving distance from the vehicle) as the recommended parking space.

[0043] The output unit 19 displays the selected recommended parking space on the display device 26 and presents it to the passengers of the vehicle. FIG. 4 shows an example of a recommended parking space display. As shown in FIG. 4, the screen showing the recommended parking space may show not only the location of the recommended parking space but also a recommended route corresponding to the recommended parking space. The screen in FIG. 4 shows a recommended route from vacant parking space A to stores X and Y using slope P. The screen in FIG. 4 also shows features around the parking lot that may hinder wheelchair users' movement (swinging doors, steep slopes, brick pavements) and points to be careful about regarding those features.

[0044] 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the parking stall suggestion device 10. The operation of the parking stall suggestion device 10 will be described below based on the flowchart in FIG.

[0045] When a passenger in the vehicle starts the parking space suggestion device 10, the destination information acquisition unit 11 acquires information about the destination of the wheelchair user in the vehicle from the navigation system 21 or the MaaS reservation system 31 (step S101).

[0046] Furthermore, the vacant parking space information acquisition unit 12 acquires information on the locations of vacant parking spaces in parking lots around the destination from the vacant parking space information providing system 32 (step S102).

[0047] The vehicle position information acquisition unit 13 acquires information on the position of the vehicle from the positioning device 22 (step S103).

[0048] The vacant parking space distance calculation unit 14 calculates the driving distance from the vehicle to each vacant parking space based on the position of each vacant parking space acquired by the vacant parking space information acquisition unit 12 and the position of the vehicle acquired by the vehicle position information acquisition unit 13 (step S104).

[0049] The candidate route search unit 15 acquires information about the facility to which the destination acquired by the destination information acquisition unit 11 belongs from the facility information storage device 23, and based on that information, searches for candidate routes for circulating the destination from each vacant parking space, i.e., candidate routes from when a wheelchair user gets off their vehicle at a vacant parking space, travels to the destination, and returns to the vacant parking space (step S105).

[0050] Next, the travel difficulty level calculation unit 16 acquires barrier-free information of the facility to which the destination belongs from the facility information storage device 23, and calculates the travel difficulty level of each candidate route detected by the candidate route search unit 15 based on the barrier-free information (step S106).

[0051] Then, the recommended route selection unit 17 selects, for each vacant parking space, the route with the smallest degree of movement difficulty as the recommended route (step S107).

[0052] Thereafter, the recommended parking space selection unit 18 extracts the vacant parking space with the minimum travel difficulty level of the recommended route, and checks whether the vacant parking space with the minimum travel difficulty level of the recommended route is determined to be one (step S108).

[0053] At this time, if only one vacant parking space with the minimum travel difficulty level for the recommended route is determined (YES in step S108), the recommended parking space selection unit 18 selects that vacant parking space as the recommended parking space (step S109).On the other hand, if there are multiple vacant parking spaces with the minimum travel difficulty level for the recommended route (NO in step S108), the recommended parking space selection unit 18 refers to the driving distance from the vehicle to each vacant parking space calculated by the vacant parking space distance calculation unit 14, and selects the parking space closest to the vehicle (i.e., the parking space with the shortest driving distance from the vehicle) as the recommended parking space from among the multiple vacant parking spaces with the minimum travel difficulty level (step S110).

[0054] Finally, the output unit 19 displays the recommended parking space selected by the recommended parking space selection unit 18 on the display device 26 to present it to the passengers of the vehicle (step S111). At this time, the output unit 19 may cause the display device 26 to display, in addition to the location of the recommended parking space, a recommended route corresponding to the recommended parking space.

[0055] According to the parking space suggestion device 10 of embodiment 1, a recommended parking space is selected based on the degree of difficulty of travel of the candidate route detected by the candidate route search unit 15, and therefore a recommended parking space can be suggested taking into consideration the entire route that a wheelchair user will take to travel around the facility.

[0056] 6 and 7 are diagrams illustrating examples of the hardware configuration of the parking stall proposal device 10. The functions of the components of the parking stall proposal device 10 illustrated in FIG. 1 are realized, for example, by a processing circuit 50 illustrated in FIG. 6. That is, the parking stall proposal device 10 includes a processing circuit 50 that acquires information about the destination of a wheelchair user in the host vehicle, acquires information about the locations of vacant parking stalls in parking lots around the destination, searches for candidate routes from the wheelchair user getting off the host vehicle at a vacant parking stall, traveling to the destination, and returning to the vacant parking stall, calculates a travel difficulty level for the candidate routes based on barrier-free information for the detected candidate routes, selects the route with the lowest travel difficulty level from among the candidate routes for the vacant parking stall as a recommended route for the vacant parking stall, selects the parking stall with the lowest travel difficulty level for the recommended route from among the vacant parking stalls as a recommended parking stall, and presents the recommended parking stall to the occupant of the host vehicle. The processing circuit 50 may be dedicated hardware, or may be configured using a processor (also called a central processing unit (CPU), processing device, arithmetic unit, microprocessor, microcomputer, or DSP (Digital Signal Processor)) that executes a program stored in memory.

[0057] When the processing circuitry 50 is dedicated hardware, the processing circuitry 50 may be, for example, a single circuit, a composite circuit, a programmed processor, a parallel programmed processor, an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), an FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array), or a combination thereof. Each function of the components of the parking stall suggestion device 10 may be realized by a separate processing circuit, or these functions may be realized together by a single processing circuit.

[0058] 7 shows an example of the hardware configuration of the parking stall suggestion device 10 when the processing circuit 50 is configured using a processor 51 that executes a program. In this case, the functions of the components of the parking stall suggestion device 10 are realized by software, etc. (software, firmware, or a combination of software and firmware). The software, etc. is written as a program and stored in the memory 52. ​​The processor 51 realizes the function of each part by reading and executing the program stored in the memory 52. That is, the parking space proposal device 10 includes a memory 52 for storing a program that, when executed by the processor 51, results in the following execution: acquiring information on the destination of a wheelchair user in the host vehicle; acquiring information on the locations of vacant parking spaces in parking lots around the destination; searching for candidate routes from the wheelchair user getting off the host vehicle at a vacant parking space to the destination and back to the vacant parking space; calculating the degree of travel difficulty of the candidate routes based on the barrier-free information of the detected candidate routes; selecting the candidate route for the vacant parking space with the lowest degree of travel difficulty as the recommended route for the vacant parking space; selecting the vacant parking space with the lowest degree of travel difficulty for the recommended route as the recommended parking space; and presenting the recommended parking space to the occupant of the host vehicle. In other words, this program can be said to cause a computer to execute the procedures and methods of the operation of the components of the parking space proposal device 10.

[0059] Here, the memory 52 may be, for example, a non-volatile or volatile semiconductor memory such as RAM (Random Access Memory), ROM (Read Only Memory), flash memory, EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory), EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory), HDD (Hard Disk Drive), magnetic disk, flexible disk, optical disk, compact disk, mini disk, DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) and its drive device, or any other storage medium that will be used in the future.

[0060] The above describes a configuration in which the functions of the components of the parking stall proposal device 10 are realized either by hardware or software, etc. However, this is not limited to this, and the configuration may be such that some components of the parking stall proposal device 10 are realized by dedicated hardware and other components are realized by software, etc. For example, it is possible to realize the functions of some components by the processing circuit 50 as dedicated hardware, and to realize the functions of other components by the processing circuit 50 as the processor 51 reading and executing a program stored in the memory 52.

[0061] As described above, the parking stall suggestion device 10 can realize the above-mentioned functions by hardware, software, or a combination of these.

[0062] <Embodiment 2> Fig. 8 is a diagram showing the configuration of a parking stall suggestion system according to embodiment 2. The configuration of the parking stall suggestion system in Fig. 8 is obtained by adding a mobile terminal 40 to the configuration in Fig. 1. The mobile terminal 40 is a mobile phone, smartphone, or the like owned by a passenger in the vehicle, including a wheelchair user and their attendant.

[0063] In the second embodiment, the output unit 19 of the parking space suggestion device 10 has a function of communicating with the mobile terminal 40, and can transmit information about the recommended route corresponding to the recommended parking space selected by the recommended parking space selection unit 18 to the mobile terminal 40. The output unit 19 may transmit, for example, an image of a screen showing the recommended parking space and the recommended route, as shown in FIG.

[0064] After getting out of their vehicle, wheelchair users or their attendants can move around while checking the recommended route on the screen of the mobile terminal 40, which improves convenience and prevents wheelchair users from accidentally straying from the recommended route.

[0065] It is possible to freely combine the embodiments, and to modify or omit the embodiments as appropriate.

[0066] Various aspects of the present disclosure are summarized below as appendices.

[0067] (Appendix 1) a destination information acquisition unit that acquires information about the destination of a wheelchair user who is in the vehicle; an empty parking space information acquisition unit that acquires information on the locations of empty parking spaces in parking lots around the destination; a candidate route search unit that searches for candidate routes from when the wheelchair user gets off the vehicle at the vacant parking space, to when the wheelchair user moves to the destination, and then when the wheelchair user returns to the vacant parking space; a travel difficulty level calculation unit that calculates a travel difficulty level of the candidate route based on the detected barrier-free information of the candidate route; a recommended route selection unit that selects, from among the candidate routes for the vacant parking space, a route with the smallest degree of travel difficulty as a recommended route for the vacant parking space; a recommended parking space selection unit that selects, from among the vacant parking spaces, a parking space having the smallest degree of travel difficulty for the recommended route as a recommended parking space; an output unit that presents the recommended parking space to a passenger of the vehicle; A parking space suggestion device comprising:

[0068] (Appendix 2) the output unit presents the recommended parking space and the recommended route corresponding to the recommended parking space to the passenger. 2. A parking stall suggestion device as described in appendix 1.

[0069] (Appendix 3) the output unit transmits information about the recommended route corresponding to the recommended parking space to a mobile device of the passenger, thereby presenting the recommended route to the passenger. 3. A parking stall suggestion device as described in appendix 2.

[0070] (Appendix 4) a vehicle position information acquisition unit that acquires information about the position of the vehicle; an empty parking space distance calculation unit that calculates a travel distance from the vehicle to the empty parking space; Furthermore, If there are a plurality of parking spaces among the vacant parking spaces for which the degree of travel difficulty of the recommended route is the smallest, the recommended parking space selection unit selects, as the recommended parking space, a parking space with the shortest travel distance from the host vehicle. A parking stall suggestion device according to any one of Supplementary Note 1 to Supplementary Note 3.

[0071] (Appendix 5) the travel difficulty level calculation unit calculates the travel difficulty level of the candidate route taking into account whether or not the wheelchair user is accompanied by an attendant; A parking stall suggestion device according to any one of Supplementary Note 1 to Supplementary Note 4.

[0072] (Appendix 6) the travel difficulty level calculation unit calculates the travel difficulty level of the candidate route taking into account the skill level of the attendant; 6. A parking stall suggestion device as described in appendix 5.

[0073] (Appendix 7) the travel difficulty level calculation unit calculates the travel difficulty level of the candidate route taking into account the type of wheelchair used by the wheelchair user. 7. A parking stall suggestion device according to any one of claims 1 to 6.

[0074] (Appendix 8) the travel difficulty level calculation unit calculates the travel difficulty level of the candidate route taking into account a type of facility to which the destination belongs; A parking stall suggestion device according to any one of Supplementary Note 1 to Supplementary Note 7.

[0075] (Appendix 9) the travel difficulty level calculation unit calculates the travel difficulty level of the candidate route by taking into account environmental information of the destination predicted during a period in which the wheelchair user will stay at the destination. A parking stall suggestion device according to any one of Supplementary Note 1 to Supplementary Note 8.

[0076] (Appendix 10) If there are multiple destinations for the wheelchair user around one parking lot, the candidate route search unit searches for a candidate route from getting off the vehicle at the vacant parking space, going around the plurality of destinations, and returning to the vacant parking space; A parking stall suggestion device according to any one of Supplementary Note 1 to Supplementary Note 9.

[0077] (Appendix 11) The barrier-free information includes one or more of the following: door type, slope shape, parking lot floor, road surface step, presence or absence of roof, parking stall shape, route shape, road surface condition, and travel distance. A parking stall suggestion device according to any one of Supplementary Note 1 to Supplementary Note 10.

[0078] (Appendix 12) a destination information acquisition unit of the parking space suggestion device acquires destination information of the wheelchair user in the vehicle; an empty parking space information acquisition unit of the parking space suggestion device acquires information on the positions of empty parking spaces in parking lots around the destination; a candidate route search unit of the parking space suggestion device searches for a candidate route from when the wheelchair user gets off the vehicle at the vacant parking space, to when the wheelchair user moves to the destination, and then when the wheelchair user returns to the vacant parking space; a movement difficulty level calculation unit of the parking stall suggestion device calculates a movement difficulty level of the candidate route based on the detected barrier-free information of the candidate route; a recommended route selection unit of the parking space proposal device selects a route from among the candidate routes for the vacant parking space that has the smallest degree of travel difficulty as a recommended route for the vacant parking space; a recommended parking space selection unit of the parking space suggestion device selects, from among the vacant parking spaces, a parking space having the smallest degree of movement difficulty of the recommended route as a recommended parking space; an output unit of the parking space suggestion device presents the recommended parking space to a passenger of the vehicle; Parking space proposal method. [Explanation of symbols]

[0079] 10 Parking space suggestion device, 11 Destination information acquisition unit, 12 Vacant parking space information acquisition unit, 13 Vehicle position information acquisition unit, 14 Vacant parking space distance calculation unit, 15 Candidate route search unit, 16 Travel difficulty calculation unit, 17 Recommended route selection unit, 18 Recommended parking space selection unit, 19 Output unit, 21 Navigation system, 22 Positioning device, 23 Facility information storage device, 24 Environmental information acquisition device, 25 Information input device, 26 Display device, 31 MaaS reservation system, 32 Parking space vacancy information provision system, 40 Mobile terminal.

Claims

1. a destination information acquisition unit that acquires information about the destination of a wheelchair user who is in the vehicle; an empty parking space information acquisition unit that acquires information on the locations of empty parking spaces in parking lots around the destination; a candidate route search unit that searches for candidate routes from when the wheelchair user gets off the vehicle at the vacant parking space, to when the wheelchair user moves to the destination, and then when the wheelchair user returns to the vacant parking space; a travel difficulty level calculation unit that calculates a travel difficulty level of the candidate route based on the detected barrier-free information of the candidate route; a recommended route selection unit that selects, from among the candidate routes for the vacant parking space, a route with the smallest degree of travel difficulty as a recommended route for the vacant parking space; a recommended parking space selection unit that selects, from among the vacant parking spaces, a parking space having the smallest degree of travel difficulty for the recommended route as a recommended parking space; an output unit that presents the recommended parking space to a passenger of the vehicle; A parking space suggestion device comprising:

2. the output unit presents the recommended parking space and the recommended route corresponding to the recommended parking space to the passenger. The parking space suggestion device according to claim 1.

3. the output unit transmits information about the recommended route corresponding to the recommended parking space to a mobile device of the passenger, thereby presenting the recommended route to the passenger. The parking space suggestion device according to claim 2.

4. a vehicle position information acquisition unit that acquires information about the position of the vehicle; an empty parking space distance calculation unit that calculates a travel distance from the vehicle to the empty parking space; Furthermore, If there are a plurality of parking spaces among the vacant parking spaces for which the degree of travel difficulty of the recommended route is the smallest, the recommended parking space selection unit selects, as the recommended parking space, a parking space with the shortest travel distance from the host vehicle. The parking space suggestion device according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

5. the travel difficulty level calculation unit calculates the travel difficulty level of the candidate route taking into account whether or not the wheelchair user is accompanied by an attendant; The parking space suggestion device according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

6. the travel difficulty level calculation unit calculates the travel difficulty level of the candidate route taking into account the skill level of the attendant; The parking space suggestion device according to claim 5.

7. the travel difficulty level calculation unit calculates the travel difficulty level of the candidate route taking into account the type of wheelchair used by the wheelchair user. The parking space suggestion device according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

8. the travel difficulty level calculation unit calculates the travel difficulty level of the candidate route taking into account a type of facility to which the destination belongs; The parking space suggestion device according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

9. the travel difficulty level calculation unit calculates the travel difficulty level of the candidate route by taking into account environmental information of the destination predicted during a period in which the wheelchair user will stay at the destination. The parking space suggestion device according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

10. When there are a plurality of destinations of the wheelchair user in the vicinity of one parking lot, the candidate route search unit searches for a candidate route from getting off the vehicle at the vacant parking space, going around the plurality of destinations, and returning to the vacant parking space; The parking space suggestion device according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

11. The barrier-free information includes one or more of the following: door type, slope shape, parking lot floor, road surface step, presence or absence of roof, parking stall shape, route shape, road surface condition, and travel distance. The parking space suggestion device according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

12. a destination information acquisition unit of the parking space suggestion device acquires destination information of the wheelchair user in the vehicle; an empty parking space information acquisition unit of the parking space suggestion device acquires information on the positions of empty parking spaces in parking lots around the destination; a candidate route search unit of the parking space suggestion device searches for a candidate route from when the wheelchair user gets off the vehicle at the vacant parking space, to when the wheelchair user moves to the destination, and then when the wheelchair user returns to the vacant parking space; a movement difficulty level calculation unit of the parking stall suggestion device calculates a movement difficulty level of the candidate route based on the detected barrier-free information of the candidate route; a recommended route selection unit of the parking space proposal device selects a route from among the candidate routes for the vacant parking space that has the smallest degree of travel difficulty as a recommended route for the vacant parking space; a recommended parking space selection unit of the parking space suggestion device selects, from among the vacant parking spaces, a parking space having the smallest degree of movement difficulty of the recommended route as a recommended parking space; an output unit of the parking space suggestion device presents the recommended parking space to a passenger of the vehicle; Parking space proposal method.

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