Vehicle rental device and vehicle rental method

Abstract

A purpose of the present disclosure is to provide a vehicle rental device and a vehicle rental method that make it possible to adjust the mentality of the renter and the mentality of a user. A vehicle rental device according to the present disclosure comprises: an information acquisition unit that acquires driving-related information that is related to the driving of a user from a rental vehicle to be rented to the user; a driving evaluation unit that evaluates a driving manner degree of the user on the basis of the driving-related information that is acquired by the information acquisition unit; a user management unit that manages a user profile that includes the driving manner degree that is evaluated by the driving evaluation unit; and a vehicle management unit that sets, on the basis of the user profile that is managed by the user management unit, a transmission rule that is defined so that the lower the driving manner degree, the more types of information are included in the driving-related information.

Description

Vehicle lending device and vehicle lending method

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a vehicle lending device and a vehicle lending method for evaluating the driving manners of users of lent vehicles.

[0002] In recent years, attention has been drawn to the use of sharing services and rental services without owning a vehicle. In these services, on the lending side, there is a psychology of not wanting to lend a vehicle to a user with poor driving manners. Therefore, a system for evaluating the driving manners of users and formulating lending conditions has been considered.

[0003] Conventionally, there has been disclosed a technique for evaluating driving manners by comparing a violation of a temporary stop, ignoring a signal, or speeding based on vehicle information with road markings or road signs, or by detecting sudden acceleration, sudden braking, or serpentine driving with a vehicle sensor (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

[0004] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-172487

[0005] In order to evaluate driving manners, the information transmitted from a lent vehicle includes information related to privacy such as position information, time information, driving operation information, and the psychological information of the user. Therefore, as a user, there is a psychology of not wanting to transmit such information. On the other hand, on the lending side, there is a psychology of wanting various kinds of information to evaluate driving manners. Therefore, there has been a problem that it is necessary to adjust the psychology of the lending side and the psychology of the user regarding the types of information transmitted from the lent vehicle.

[0006] The present disclosure has been made to solve such problems, and an object thereof is to provide a vehicle lending device and a vehicle lending method capable of adjusting the psychology of the lending side and the psychology of the user.

[0007] To solve the above problems, the vehicle rental device according to this disclosure includes: an information acquisition unit that acquires driving-related information related to the user's driving from a rental vehicle to be rented to a user; a driving evaluation unit that evaluates the user's driving manners based on the driving-related information acquired by the information acquisition unit; a user management unit that manages a user profile including the driving manners evaluated by the driving evaluation unit; and a vehicle management unit that sets a transmission rule for the rental vehicle based on the user profile managed by the user management unit, such that the types of information included in the driving-related information increase as the driving manners decrease.

[0008] According to this disclosure, it becomes possible to adjust the psychology of the lender and the psychology of the user.

[0009] The purposes, features, aspects, and advantages of this disclosure will become more apparent from the following detailed description and accompanying drawings.

[0010] This is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a vehicle rental system according to Embodiment 1. This is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of a vehicle rental device according to Embodiment 1. This is a diagram showing an example of the display of driving evaluation results according to Embodiment 1. This is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of a rental vehicle according to Embodiment 1. This is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a vehicle rental system according to Embodiment 2. This is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of a vehicle rental device according to Embodiment 2. This is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of a rental vehicle according to Embodiment 2. This is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a vehicle rental system according to Embodiment 3. This is a diagram showing an example of the transmission rules according to a modified example 2 of Embodiment 3. This is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a vehicle rental system according to Embodiment 4. This is a diagram for explaining driving intervention according to Embodiment 4. This is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of a vehicle rental device according to Embodiments 1 to 4. This is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of a vehicle rental device according to Embodiments 1 to 4.

[0011] <Embodiment 1> <Configuration> Figure 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a vehicle rental system according to Embodiment 1. The vehicle rental system consists of a vehicle rental device 1, a rental vehicle 10, and a user terminal 20. The vehicle rental device 1, the rental vehicle 10, and the user terminal 20 are connected to each other via a communication network 19.

[0012] The user terminal 20 is, for example, an information and communication terminal such as a smartphone or a PC (Personal Computer). The user terminal 20 accesses the vehicle rental device 1 to make a rental reservation for the rental vehicle 10.

[0013] The rental vehicle 10 is equipped with a driving status transmission device 11, an in-vehicle LAN (Local Area Network) 16, a positioning device 17, and a communication device 18. The driving status transmission device 11 is connected to the in-vehicle LAN 16, the positioning device 17, and the communication device 18 in a communication-enabled manner.

[0014] The in-vehicle LAN 16 is connected to various sensors installed in the rental vehicle 10, and transmits driving control information such as driving speed, acceleration, braking, and steering wheel operation output from the various sensors to the driving status transmission device 11.

[0015] The positioning device 17 acquires location information of the rental vehicle 10. The positioning device 17 is equipped with GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System). The positioning device 17 may also correct the location information acquired by GNSS by map matching using a vehicle speed sensor, an acceleration sensor, and map information.

[0016] The communication device 18 communicates with the outside of the vehicle (for example, the vehicle rental device 1). Examples of communication methods include V2X (Vehicle to Everything), wide-area communication, and narrow-area communication.

[0017] The driving status transmission device 11 includes a driving information acquisition unit 12, a transmission information determination unit 13, a transmission rule storage unit 14, and a communication unit 15.

[0018] The driving information acquisition unit 12 acquires driving control information from the in-vehicle LAN 16 and position information from the positioning device 17.

[0019] The transmission information determination unit 13 determines the driving-related information to be transmitted to the vehicle rental device 1 based on the transmission rules stored in the transmission rule storage unit 14. The transmission rule storage unit 14 stores the transmission rules received by the communication unit 15.

[0020] The communication unit 15 controls the communication device 18 in order to communicate with the outside of the vehicle.

[0021] The vehicle rental device 1 comprises a communication unit 2, an information acquisition unit 3, a temporary storage unit 4, a driving evaluation unit 5, a user management unit 6, a vehicle management unit 7, a map DB (data base) 8, and a display unit 9.

[0022] The communication unit 2 communicates with the rental vehicle 10 and the user terminal 20, respectively.

[0023] The information acquisition unit 3 acquires driving-related information about the user's driving from the rental vehicle 10. The temporary storage unit 4 stores the driving-related information.

[0024] The driving evaluation unit 5 evaluates the user's driving manners based on the driving-related information stored in the temporary storage unit 4. If there are multiple users, the driving manners are evaluated for each user.

[0025] The user management unit 6 manages user profiles, including the driving manners level evaluated by the driving evaluation unit 5.

[0026] The vehicle management unit 7 manages the rental vehicles 10 and makes rental reservations for the rental vehicles 10 in response to rental requests from user terminals 20. The vehicle management unit 7 also transmits transmission rules to the rental vehicles 10 according to the user's driving manners, based on the user profile managed by the user management unit 6.

[0027] Map DB8 stores road map data as well as traffic rule information on a road-by-road or lane-by-lane basis. Display unit 9 displays various types of information.

[0028] <Operation of Vehicle Rental Device 1> Figure 2 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the vehicle rental device 1.

[0029] In step S101, the vehicle management unit 7 determines whether or not it has received a vehicle rental request from the user terminal 20 via the communication unit 2. The process in step S101 is repeated until a vehicle rental request is received, at which point the process proceeds to step S102.

[0030] In step S102, the vehicle management unit 7 compares the user ID included in the vehicle rental request with the user profile managed by the user management unit 6. If the comparison reveals that the user is a new user, the process proceeds to step S103; otherwise, the process proceeds to step S104.

[0031] Here, user profile UPr(m) of user m includes at least user ID(ID(m)) and driving manners DML(m). Note that user profile UPr(m) may also include personal information or driving record information. Personal information may include, for example, the user's address, name, age, contact information, and billing account. Driving record information may include, for example, past vehicle rental records, driving evaluations for each past vehicle rental, and driving-related information.

[0032] In Embodiment 1, the user m's driving manners score DML(m) is evaluated using two values: DML(m) = 1 (excellent driver) and DML(m) = 0 (poor driver).

[0033] In step S103, the vehicle management unit 7 creates a new user profile UPr(m) = (ID(m), DML(m)) and sets the initial value of the driving manners score DML(m). In Embodiment 1, DML(m) = 1 (excellent driver) is set as the initial value.

[0034] In step S104, the vehicle management unit 7 obtains the driving manners score DML(m) from the user profile UPr(m) of user m.

[0035] In step S105, the vehicle management unit 7 formulates transmission rules based on the driving manners DML(m). The vehicle management unit 7 then transmits the formulated transmission rules to the rental vehicle 10. This reserves the rental of the rental vehicle 10. The vehicle management unit 7 may also transmit a user profile to the rental vehicle 10 in addition to the transmission rules.

[0036] Regarding the transmission rules, Embodiment 1 specifies the following first and second transmission rules.

[0037] First transmission rule: This rule applies to users with a driving manners score DML(m) = 1 (excellent driver), and transmits driving control information (including at least information on speed, acceleration, braking, and steering) as driving-related information.

[0038] Second transmission rule: This rule applies to users with a driving manners score DML(m) = 0 (non-excellent driver), and transmits location information in addition to driving control information as driving-related information.

[0039] In step S106, the vehicle management unit 7 determines whether or not the rental of the rental vehicle 10 has begun. The process in step S106 is repeated until the rental begins, at which point the unit proceeds to step S107. The timing of the start of the rental may be, for example, the start time of use of the rental vehicle 10 set at the time of rental reservation, or it may be the timing when the rental vehicle 10 starts driving.

[0040] If the user terminal 20 requests a cancellation of the loan before the loan begins, the operation shown in Figure 2 will terminate. Also, if there are any changes to the loan reservation before the loan begins, the process will return to step S104.

[0041] In step S107, the driving evaluation unit 5 clears the memory (not shown) that records inappropriate driving. That is, it clears the record of inappropriate driving.

[0042] In step S108, the information acquisition unit 3 acquires the vehicle ID and driving-related information transmitted from the rental vehicle 10, associates the acquired vehicle ID and driving-related information, and stores them in the temporary storage unit 4. The vehicle ID is an ID for identifying the rental vehicle 10.

[0043] In step S109, the driving evaluation unit 5 determines whether an inappropriate driving is detected based on the driving-related information stored in the temporary storage unit 4. If an inappropriate driving is detected, the process proceeds to step S110. On the other hand, if an inappropriate driving is not detected, the process proceeds to step S111.

[0044] Here, the detection of inappropriate driving will be described.

[0045] When the user's driving manner degree DML(m) = 1 (excellent driver), the driving evaluation unit 5 executes the detection process of inappropriate driving based on the driving control information. Also, when the user's driving manner degree DML(m) = 0 (non-excellent driver), the driving evaluation unit 5 executes the detection process of inappropriate driving based on the driving control information and the position information. Hereinafter, the first detection logic and the second detection logic are shown as examples of the detection process of inappropriate driving.

[0046] The first detection logic detects inappropriate driving based on the driving control information acquired from the rental vehicle 10. For example, if it is determined that the rental vehicle 10 has performed rough driving such as sudden acceleration, sudden deceleration, or driving with a large G, the rental vehicle 10 is considered to have performed inappropriate driving. "Sudden acceleration" means, for example, when an acceleration of 0.2G or more is applied continuously for 1 second or more. "Sudden deceleration" means, for example, when a negative acceleration of 0.3G or more is applied continuously for 1 second or more. "Large G" means, for example, when an acceleration of 0.3G or more is applied continuously for 100 milliseconds or more in the lateral direction. Note that the above criteria for determining rough driving are only examples and are not limited to the above criteria. Also, rough driving may be determined based on other information related to driving control information, sensor information such as pitch, yaw, and roll.

[0047] The second detection logic collates the driving control information and position information obtained from the rental vehicle 10 with the traffic rule information stored in the map DB 8 to detect inappropriate driving. For example, if it is determined that the rental vehicle 10 has violated the speed limit, it means that the rental vehicle 10 has driven inappropriately. To determine a speed violation, the speed limit information included in the traffic rule information stored in the map DB 8 is used. For example, when driving over the speed limit by Pv% or more, it is determined that one speed violation has occurred for a distance Lv. Pv is, for example, 10%, and Lv is, for example, 1 km. Note that the excess of the speed limit is not limited to a percentage, and it may be the speed exceeding the speed limit, for example, 10 km / h over the speed limit.

[0048] Returning to the description of FIG. 2, in step S110, the driving evaluation unit 5 updates the record of inappropriate driving. Specifically, the driving evaluation unit 5 updates the occurrence count (detection count) of inappropriate driving. In Embodiment 1, it is assumed that the occurrence count is counted for each type of inappropriate driving. Note that the occurrence count of inappropriate driving may be counted by weighting according to the type of inappropriate driving.

[0049] In step S111, the driving evaluation unit 5 determines whether the rental vehicle 10 has been returned. If the rental vehicle 10 has been returned, the process proceeds to step S112. On the other hand, if the rental vehicle 10 has not been returned, the process returns to step S108, and the counting process of the occurrence count of inappropriate driving is repeated.

[0050] In step S112, the driving evaluation unit 5 performs a driving evaluation of the user based on the occurrence count of inappropriate driving. Specifically, the driving evaluation unit 5 calculates a driving evaluation value eV as follows for each of non-excellent drivers and excellent drivers.

[0051] When the user is a non-excellent driver, the driving evaluation value eV0 is calculated by the following formula (1). Driving evaluation value eV0 = (α1 × number of rough driving times + α2 × number of speed violation times) / driving distance (km) ··· (1)

[0052] The mileage is obtained by accessing the rental vehicle 10 from the vehicle rental device 1. α1 and α2 are weight functions, for example, α1 = 2 and α2 = 1. For example, if rental vehicle 10 travels 100 km and there are 10 instances of reckless driving and 5 instances of speeding, the driving evaluation value eV0 = (2 × 10 + 1 × 5) / 100 = 0.25.

[0053] Furthermore, if the user is a good driver, the driving evaluation value eV1 is calculated using the following formula (2): Driving evaluation value eV1 = (α1 × number of reckless driving incidents) / distance traveled (km) ... (2)

[0054] For example, if a rental vehicle 10 travels 100 km and 10 instances of reckless driving occur, the driving evaluation value eV1 = (2 × 10) / 100 = 0.2.

[0055] In step S113, the driving evaluation unit 5 calculates the user m's driving manners DML(m) based on the driving evaluation value eV. The driving evaluation unit 5 then updates the user m's driving manners DML(m) managed by the user management unit 6. Specifically, the driving evaluation unit 5 updates the driving manners DML(m) for both non-excellent drivers and excellent drivers, for example, as follows.

[0056] If a user is a non-good driver, they will remain a non-good driver if their driving evaluation value eV0 ≥ EVth0. That is, their driving manners score DML(m) = 0. On the other hand, if their driving evaluation value eV0 < EVth0, they will be promoted to a good driver. That is, their driving manners score DML(m) = 1. Here, EVth0 is an appropriate judgment threshold, for example, EVth0 = 0.2.

[0057] Furthermore, if a user is a good driver, they will be demoted to a non-good driver if their driving evaluation value eV1 ≥ EVth1. That is, their driving manners score DML(m) will be 0. On the other hand, if their driving evaluation value eV1 < EVth1, they will maintain their status as a good driver. That is, their driving manners score DML(m) will be 1. Here, EVth1 is an appropriate judgment threshold, for example, EVth1 = 0.25.

[0058] Thus, the next time user m uses the rental vehicle 10, the updated driving manners DML(m) will be applied. If the updated driving manners DML(m) has changed, the rental vehicle 10 will transmit driving-related information according to the transmission rules corresponding to the changed driving manners DML(m).

[0059] The reason why the values ​​of EVth0 and EVth1 mentioned above are different is to adjust for the different types of inappropriate driving included in the driving evaluation values ​​eV0 and eV1, respectively. In Embodiment 2, described later, such adjustment is unnecessary because the types of inappropriate driving included in the driving evaluation values ​​eV0 and eV1 are the same.

[0060] In step S114, the driving evaluation unit 5 displays the driving evaluation results on the display unit 9. The driving evaluation results differ for excellent drivers and non-excellent drivers.

[0061] Figure 3 shows an example of how driving evaluation results are displayed when the user is a non-excellent driver. In Figure 3, locations where inappropriate driving occurred are plotted on the map with circles. The color or shape of the plots may be changed depending on the type of inappropriate driving.

[0062] Furthermore, it is not mandatory to display the plots of locations where inappropriate driving occurred. They may be displayed only when requested by those involved with the vehicle rental device 1, or they may be displayed as part of the historical record as appropriate.

[0063] If the user is a good driver, the vehicle rental device 1 does not acquire location information from the rental vehicle 10, and therefore only the text shown in the lower right frame of Figure 3 is displayed.

[0064] <Operation of rental vehicle 10> Figure 4 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of rental vehicle 10.

[0065] In step S201, the communication unit 15 determines whether or not it has received a rental reservation from the vehicle rental device 1. The process in step S201 is repeated until a rental reservation is received, at which point the unit proceeds to step S202.

[0066] In step S202, the communication unit 15 receives the transmission rules from the vehicle rental device 1 and stores the received transmission rules in the transmission rule storage unit 14. If a user profile is also transmitted from the vehicle rental device 1 in addition to the transmission rules, the communication unit 15 also receives the user profile. The communication unit 15 then stores the user profile in the transmission rule storage unit 14.

[0067] Specifically, corresponding to step S105 in Figure 2, the communication unit 15 receives a first transmission rule (an instruction to transmit driving control information) from the vehicle rental device 1 if the user is a good driver, and a second transmission rule (an instruction to transmit driving control information and location information) from the vehicle rental device 1 if the user is a poor driver.

[0068] In step S203, the driving status transmission device 11 determines whether or not the rental of the rental vehicle 10 has started. The process in step S203 is repeated until the rental starts, and then the process moves to step S204.

[0069] In step S204, the driving information acquisition unit 12 acquires driving control information from the in-vehicle LAN 16.

[0070] In step S205, the driving information acquisition unit 12 acquires position information from the positioning device 17.

[0071] In step S206, the transmission information determination unit 13 generates driving-related information to be transmitted to the vehicle rental device 1 by referring to the transmission rules stored in the transmission rule storage unit 14. Specifically, if the first transmission rule is stored in the transmission rule storage unit 14, the transmission information determination unit 13 generates driving control information as driving-related information. On the other hand, if the second transmission rule is stored in the transmission rule storage unit 14, the transmission information determination unit 13 generates driving control information and location information as driving-related information.

[0072] In step S207, the communication unit 15 transmits the driving-related information generated by the transmission information determination unit 13 to the vehicle rental device 1.

[0073] In step S208, the driving status transmission device 11 determines whether the rented vehicle 10 has been returned. If the rented vehicle 10 has been returned, the process proceeds to step S209. On the other hand, if the rented vehicle 10 has not been returned, the process returns to step S204 and continues to transmit driving-related information to the vehicle rental device 1. The transmission period for driving-related information is a fixed period, such as 0.1 seconds, 0.2 seconds, or 1 second, but it is not necessary to transmit driving-related information while the rented vehicle 10 is stopped or parked.

[0074] In step S209, the operation status transmission device 11 clears the transmission rules stored in the transmission rule storage unit 14. At this time, if a user profile is stored in the transmission rule storage unit 14, the operation status transmission device 11 also clears the user profile.

[0075] <Effects> According to Embodiment 1, users with poor driving manners will accept that it is unavoidable to transmit some private information to the vehicle rental device 1 because of their poor driving manners, and will strive to improve their driving manners from a privacy protection standpoint. On the other hand, the lender (those involved with the vehicle rental device 1) will accept that although the amount of information obtained from rental vehicles 10 driven by users with good driving manners is small (the types of driving-related information are few), the amount of information obtained from rental vehicles 10 driven by users with poor driving manners is large (the types of driving-related information are many). In this way, it becomes possible to adjust the psychology of the lender and the psychology of the users who use the rental vehicles 10, which can contribute to the spread of sharing and rental services.

[0076] <Modification 1> In Embodiment 1, the case in step S103 of Figure 2 where the driving manners score DML(m) = 1 (excellent driver) is set as the initial value was described, but it is not limited to this. The driving manners score DML(m) = 0 (poor driver) may also be set as the initial value.

[0077] When adopting a multi-value driving manners score, as shown in the modified example below, the median value of the driving manners score may be set as the initial value.

[0078] If the vehicle rental device 1 can obtain information about the user's driving manners from other vehicle rental devices, it may set an initial value for the driving manners based on the driving manners obtained from other vehicle rental devices.

[0079] The system may obtain the user's ability to pay, past traffic violations, or past accident history, and set an initial value for driving manners based on at least one of these. A user with few traffic violations or accidents may be classified as a good driver.

[0080] The initial value for driving manners may be set through discussions between the vehicle rental staff member of vehicle rental device 1 and the user.

[0081] <Modification 2> In Embodiment 1, step S113 in Figure 2 describes a case where the driving manners score is updated using only the driving manners score from the current rental run, but it is not limited to this. The driving manners score for each past rental may be stored and the driving manners score may be calculated based on the history of past driving manners scores. The driving manners score may be the average of the history of past driving manners scores, and newer driving manners scores may be given greater weight before taking the overall average.

[0082] Alternatively, the system may store past driving evaluation values ​​(eV) and calculate the driving manners score based on the history of past driving evaluation values ​​(eV).

[0083] <Modification 3> In Embodiment 1, a "sudden acceleration" was determined to occur when an acceleration of 0.2G or more was applied continuously for 1 second or more, and this was counted as one instance of reckless driving. However, the number of instances may be calculated according to the degree of sudden acceleration. For example, the greater the acceleration, the more a coefficient k (≧1) may be applied to each instance of reckless driving for counting purposes.

[0084] If 0.2G ≤ acceleration < 0.3G: coefficient k = 1 If 0.3G ≤ acceleration: coefficient k = 1 + a × (acceleration - 0.3G)

[0085] Here, a is an appropriate coefficient, for example, 0.3. The coefficient k may also change according to the acceleration. For example, the coefficient k may be increased as the acceleration increases.

[0086] Similarly, when counting speeding violations, a coefficient may be applied to the number of counts depending on the speed exceeding the limit. For example, the coefficient k may be set to 1 for speeding violations of less than 10%, and a coefficient k of 1 or greater may be applied for speeding violations exceeding that limit. Alternatively, the coefficient k may be changed at speeds where the legal penalties for speeding violations become stricter.

[0087] In this way, by categorizing the degree of inappropriate driving, it becomes possible to conduct detailed driving evaluations.

[0088] Furthermore, in the display of driving evaluation results shown in Figure 3, if the degree of inappropriate driving is high, the location where the inappropriate driving occurred may be indicated with a warning color or a large shape.

[0089] <Modification 4> In Embodiment 1, appropriate thresholds were set for the driving evaluation values ​​eV0 and eV1, and a binary value was described where the driving manners score DML(m) = 1 if the user is a good driver, and DML(m) = 0 if the user is a poor driver. However, the invention is not limited to this. The driving manners score may be expressed in a multi-value or analog form, and a value closer to 1 may indicate a better driver.

[0090] For example, functions f0 and f1, which approach 0 as the driving evaluation value increases, may be used to define the evaluated driving manners as DML = f0(eV0) and DML = f1(eV1). If evaluating on a five-point scale, the levels may be divided as follows.

[0091] 1 ≥ DML ≥ 0.8: Excellent driver, driving manners DML 5 (Excellent) 0.8 > DML ≥ 0.6: Good driver, driving manners DML 4 (Very Good) 0.6 > DML ≥ 0.4: Good driver, driving manners DML 3 (Good) 0.4 > DML ≥ 0.2: Poor driver, driving manners DML 2 (Poor) 0.2 > DML ≥ 0: Driver requiring caution, driving manners DML 1 (Very Poor)

[0092] In step S105 of Figure 2, when setting transmission rules based on the driving manners score DML, if the driving manners score DML ≥ DMLth, a transmission rule (first transmission rule) should be set for the driver as a good driver in the binary judgment, and if the driving manners score DML < DMLth, a transmission rule (second transmission rule) should be set for the driver as a poor driver in the binary judgment. Here, DMLth is, for example, 0.4, and DML5, DML4, and DML3 are judged as good drivers, while DML2 and DML1 are judged as poor drivers.

[0093] Furthermore, in step S103 of Figure 2, the driving manners level DML3 is set for the new user.

[0094] <Modification 5> In Embodiment 1, the case in which the user m's driving manners score DML(m) is calculated based on the driving evaluation value eV was described, but the lender of the vehicle lending device 1 may make minor adjustments to the driving evaluation value eV based on the user's words and actions and attitude.

[0095] Here, since unconditional adjustment of the driving evaluation value eV is undesirable, the range of values ​​that can be slightly adjusted may be limited. In this case, the adjustments may be restricted for excellent drivers, for example, by not allowing slight adjustments to the driving evaluation value eV for excellent drivers.

[0096] <Modification 6> Although the first embodiment does not mention billing, the user management unit 6 may allow the relaxation of driving-related information transmitted from the rental vehicle 10 used by a user who is a non-good driver, on the condition that an additional fee is added to the rental fee. Relaxation of driving-related information means reducing the types of information included in the driving-related information.

[0097] Those involved with the vehicle rental device 1 (for example, the operator) can prepare for the risk of vehicle damage by adding an additional fee.

[0098] Furthermore, it may be permitted to relax driving-related information by having the deposit, which will be refunded upon the return of the rental vehicle 10, paid at the time of rental.

[0099] <Modification 7> The vehicle rental device 1 may also include a rental vehicle 10. In this case, each function or component in the vehicle rental device 1 and the rental vehicle 10 may be distributed between the vehicle rental device 1 and the rental vehicle 10. For example, the vehicle rental device 1 may be configured to include a driving status transmission device 11.

[0100] <Embodiment 2> <Configuration> Embodiment 1 described the case in which the vehicle rental device 1 detects inappropriate driving. Embodiment 2 describes the case in which the rental vehicle 10 detects inappropriate driving.

[0101] Figure 5 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a vehicle rental system according to Embodiment 2. As shown in Figure 5, Embodiment 2 is characterized in that the driving status transmission device 23 installed in the rental vehicle 22 includes an inappropriate driving judgment unit 24 and a map DB 25. The other configurations are the same as in Embodiment 1 (see Figure 1), so a detailed explanation is omitted here.

[0102] The map database 25, like the map database 8 provided by the vehicle rental device 1, stores road map data as well as traffic rule information on a road-by-road or lane-by-lane basis. In the example shown in Figure 5, the driving status transmission device 23 is equipped with the map database 25, but it may also be used by downloading map data of the area around the current location of the rental vehicle 22 from the map database 8 of the vehicle rental device 1.

[0103] The inappropriate driving judgment unit 24 has the function of processing the judgment of inappropriate driving by the temporary storage unit 4 and the driving evaluation unit 5 provided in the vehicle rental device 1 described in Embodiment 1.

[0104] In Embodiment 1, the driving evaluation unit 5 detected inappropriate driving based on raw data of driving-related information received from the rental vehicle 10. On the other hand, in Embodiment 2, the driving evaluation unit 5 calculates the driving manners score based on the inappropriate driving information detected by the inappropriate driving judgment unit 24 of the rental vehicle 22.

[0105] <Operation of Vehicle Rental Device 1> Figure 6 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the vehicle rental device 1. Steps S301 to S304 in Figure 6 correspond to steps S101 to S104 in Figure 2, steps S306 and S307 in Figure 6 correspond to steps S106 and S107 in Figure 2, steps S310 and S311 in Figure 6 correspond to steps S110 and S111 in Figure 2, and steps S313 and S314 in Figure 6 correspond to steps S113 and S114 in Figure 2. Therefore, a detailed explanation is omitted here. Steps S305, S308, S309, and S312 will be described below.

[0106] In step S305, the vehicle management unit 7 formulates transmission rules based on the driving manners DML(m). The vehicle management unit 7 then transmits the formulated transmission rules to the rental vehicle 10. This reserves the rental of the rental vehicle 10. The vehicle management unit 7 may also transmit a user profile to the rental vehicle 10 in addition to the transmission rules.

[0107] Regarding the transmission rules, Embodiment 2 specifies the following third and fourth transmission rules.

[0108] Third transmission rule: This rule applies to users with a driving manners score of DML(m) = 1 (excellent driver), and transmits inappropriate driving information as driving-related information.

[0109] Fourth transmission rule: This rule applies to users with a driving manners score of DML(m) = 0 (non-excellent driver), and transmits location information in addition to inappropriate driving information as driving-related information.

[0110] In step S308, the information acquisition unit 3 acquires the vehicle ID and driving-related information transmitted from the rental vehicle 10, associates the acquired vehicle ID and driving-related information, and stores it in the temporary storage unit 4. In Embodiment 2, unlike Embodiment 1, the driving-related information is at least inappropriate driving information, and if the user is a non-excellent driver, location information is also added. The information acquisition unit 3 receives the location information according to predetermined rules. Here, the predetermined rules may be, for example, a fixed period of every 10 seconds, a 20-second period when the rental vehicle 22 is traveling along the road, or dynamically changed to 10 times at a 1-second interval after the rental vehicle 22 changes lanes.

[0111] In step S309, the driving evaluation unit 5 determines whether or not it has detected inappropriate driving based on the driving-related information stored in the temporary storage unit 4. Specifically, if the driving evaluation unit 5 has stored inappropriate driving information, which is driving-related information, in the temporary storage unit 4, it determines that it has detected inappropriate driving. If inappropriate driving is detected, the process proceeds to step S310. On the other hand, if inappropriate driving is not detected, the process proceeds to step S311.

[0112] In step S312, the driving evaluation unit 5 performs a driving evaluation of the user. In Embodiment 1 (step S112 in Figure 2), the calculation method differed depending on whether the user was a good driver or a poor driver. However, in Embodiment 2, the vehicle rental device 1 receives driving-related information (inappropriate driving information) from the rental vehicle 22, including both reckless driving and speeding violations. Therefore, the driving evaluation unit 5 calculates the driving manners score DML using the driving evaluation value eV0 when the user is a poor driver.

[0113] <Operation of Rental Vehicle 22> Figure 7 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of rental vehicle 22. Note that step S401 in Figure 7 corresponds to step S201 in Figure 4, steps S403 to S405 in Figure 7 correspond to steps S203 to S205 in Figure 4, and steps S410 to S412 in Figure 7 correspond to steps S207 to S209 in Figure 4, so a detailed explanation is omitted here. Steps S402 and S406 to S409 will be explained below.

[0114] In step S402, the communication unit 15 receives the transmission rules from the vehicle rental device 1 and stores the received transmission rules in the transmission rule storage unit 14. If a user profile is also transmitted from the vehicle rental device 1 in addition to the transmission rules, the communication unit 15 also receives the user profile. The communication unit 15 then stores the user profile in the transmission rule storage unit 14.

[0115] Specifically, corresponding to step S305 in Figure 6, the communication unit 15 receives a third transmission rule (an instruction to transmit inappropriate driving information) from the vehicle rental device 1 if the user is a good driver, and a fourth transmission rule (an instruction to transmit inappropriate driving information and location information) from the vehicle rental device 1 if the user is a poor driver.

[0116] In step S406, the inappropriate driving judgment unit 24 obtains traffic rule information for the current location of the rental vehicle 22 from the map DB 25.

[0117] In step S407, the inappropriate driving determination unit 24 executes the inappropriate driving detection process. The inappropriate driving detection process in step S407 is the same as the process in step S109 in Figure 2 of Embodiment 1. However, unlike Embodiment 1, in step S407, driving control information and location information can be used, so regardless of whether the user is a good driver or a bad driver, the first detection logic (detection of inappropriate driving based on driving control information) and the second detection logic (detection of inappropriate driving based on driving control information and location information) described in Embodiment 1 are executed.

[0118] In step S408, the transmission information determination unit 13 generates driving-related information to be transmitted to the vehicle rental device 1 by referring to the transmission rules stored in the transmission rule storage unit 14. Specifically, if the third transmission rule is stored in the transmission rule storage unit 14, the transmission information determination unit 13 generates inappropriate driving information as driving-related information. On the other hand, if the fourth transmission rule is stored in the transmission rule storage unit 14, the transmission information determination unit 13 generates inappropriate driving information and location information as driving-related information.

[0119] In step S409, the communication unit 15 determines whether or not there is any driving-related information to transmit to the vehicle rental device 1. Here, "no driving-related information" means that no inappropriate driving was detected when the user is a good driver. If there is driving-related information to transmit, the process proceeds to step S410. On the other hand, if there is no driving-related information to transmit, the process proceeds to step S411.

[0120] In the operation shown in Figure 7, driving-related information may be transmitted to the vehicle rental device 1 all at once when the rental vehicle 22 is returned. In this case, personnel at the vehicle rental device 1 cannot check the status of the user driving the rental vehicle 22 in real time. The same procedure may be followed in Embodiment 1 (Figure 4).

[0121] <Effects> According to Embodiment 2, if the rental vehicle 22 is a non-good driver, it transmits location information, so the vehicle rental device 1 can obtain detailed information about the non-good driver, and obtain the same effects as in Embodiment 1. In addition, since communication resources are reduced, the processing burden on the vehicle rental device 1 is reduced.

[0122] <Modification 1> In Embodiment 2, the rental vehicle 22 does not transmit driving control information to the vehicle rental device 1, but it may be configured to transmit driving control information as driving-related information, as in Embodiment 1. Generally, the processing power of the vehicle rental device 1 is high, so it is possible to detect precise inappropriate driving (for example, the type of sudden acceleration, sudden braking, and swerving, or the degree of sudden acceleration and sudden braking). Also, when the vehicle rental device 1 updates to a new inappropriate driving detection logic, it is not necessary to update the inappropriate driving detection logic held by the rental vehicle 22 while the rental vehicle 22 is in motion. Machine learning-based logic may be used for the inappropriate driving detection process. In Embodiment 2, the vehicle rental device 1 may also be configured to update the inappropriate driving detection logic held by the rental vehicle 22. It is desirable to update the inappropriate driving detection logic while the rental vehicle 22 is being returned.

[0123] <Embodiment 3> Embodiments 1 and 2 described a case in which inappropriate driving is detected and a driving manners score is calculated based on driving control information, location information, or traffic rule information, but the invention is not limited to these. Embodiment 3 describes a case in which inappropriate driving is detected and a driving manners score is calculated based on various sensor information.

[0124] <Configuration> Figure 8 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a vehicle rental system according to Embodiment 3. As shown in Figure 8, Embodiment 3 is characterized in that the rental vehicle 26 is equipped with an automatic driving control device 27, an in-vehicle LAN 28, a surrounding detection device 29, a positioning device 30, a DMS (Driver Monitoring System) 31, and a camera 32. The other configurations are the same as those in Embodiment 2 (see Figure 5), so a detailed explanation is omitted here.

[0125] The automated driving control system 27 performs automated driving by taking over some of the operations performed by the driver of the rental vehicle 26. The automated driving control system 27 also implements driving interventions such as AEB (Autonomous Emergency Braking) and LKAS (Lane Keeping Assistant System).

[0126] The in-vehicle LAN 28 transmits control signals for the body system, turn signal information, hazard information, alarm sound generation information, lighting control information, wiper drive information, seat control information, mirror control information, warning light information, and status information of in-vehicle devices related to the rental vehicle 26 to the driving status transmission device 23. The in-vehicle LAN 28 also transmits information such as external vehicle conditions, road surface conditions, temperature, humidity, and illuminance from on-vehicle sensors (not shown) to the driving status transmission device 23.

[0127] The surrounding detection device 29 is composed of one or more of the following: a Lidar, a millimeter-wave radar, an ultrasonic sensor, and an image processing sensor using a camera. Using an image processing sensor makes it possible to recognize road signs and road markings, in which case a map DB 25 storing traffic rule information is not necessarily required. Furthermore, by performing lane marking recognition using an image sensor, it becomes possible to recognize the lane the rental vehicle 26 is traveling in.

[0128] The positioning device 30 includes a positioning device with sub-meter level positioning performance and a high-precision map database that stores road shape data on a lane-by-lane basis, and detects the lane in which the rental vehicle 26 is traveling. Note that the positioning device 30 may be a standard positioning device. A standard positioning device alone cannot recognize the driving lane, but it is possible to recognize the driving lane by combining it with white line recognition using image processing.

[0129] The DMS 31 detects the driver's state in the rental vehicle 26. Specifically, the DMS 31 detects the driver's psychological state, physiological state, gaze, face, posture, heart rate, and respiration. Psychological state includes the driver's irritation and distracted state. Physiological state includes the driver's level of alertness. Gaze information is used to detect when the driver is distracted and to detect what the driver is focusing on.

[0130] The camera 32 acquires video information from inside and outside the vehicle. The camera 32 may also be included in the surrounding detection device 29 or the DMS 31. Furthermore, the camera 32 may acquire video signals from a device such as a drive recorder.

[0131] The driving status transmission device 23 may also acquire information from devices other than those mentioned above, or infrastructure information. Infrastructure information includes weather information, road traffic information, traffic light color information, etc. It may also acquire operation information from the user's information terminal and use this operation information to detect distracted driving by the user.

[0132] <Operation of Vehicle Lending Device 1> The vehicle lending device 1 performs the same operation as in Embodiment 2 (operation shown in Figure 6). The vehicle lending device 1 acquires more types of inappropriate driving from the leased vehicles 26 than the types of inappropriate driving described in Embodiment 2.

[0133] In Embodiment 3, in step S312 of Figure 6, the driving evaluation is performed after weighting according to the type or degree of inappropriate driving. In addition, in step S312 of Figure 6, in addition to the display example shown in Figure 3, the type of inappropriate driving can be displayed in a manner that allows for differentiation.

[0134] <Operation of the rental vehicle 26> The rental vehicle 26 performs the same operations as in Embodiment 2 (operations shown in Figure 7). In Embodiment 2, the driving information acquisition unit 12 acquired information from the in-vehicle LAN 16, location information, and map data. On the other hand, in Embodiment 3, the driving information acquisition unit 12 acquires more information than in Embodiment 2. Specifically, the driving information acquisition unit 12 acquires information about the surroundings of the rental vehicle 26 from the surrounding detection device 29, acquires location information including the driving lane of the rental vehicle 26 from the positioning device 30, acquires driver information from the DMS 31, and acquires video information from the camera 32.

[0135] Furthermore, in step S407 of Figure 7, the inappropriate driving determination unit 24 detects a wider variety of inappropriate driving behaviors than in Embodiment 2. The third to eighth detection logics are shown below as examples of the inappropriate driving detection process.

[0136] The third detection logic detects violations of the Road Traffic Act as inappropriate driving. Various violations of the Road Traffic Act are detected as inappropriate driving, such as running a red light, failing to stop at a stop sign, violating lane direction restrictions (driving the wrong way on a one-way street, going straight in a right-turn-only lane, making a U-turn in a no-U-turn zone, driving the wrong way in the oncoming lane, etc.), illegal parking and stopping, and failing to adjust the vehicle's position appropriately in relation to emergency vehicles. For example, when the positioning device 30 recognizes the driving lane of the rental vehicle 26 and traffic rules differ from lane to lane, traffic violations can be detected from information such as right-turn-only lanes and straight-ahead lanes.

[0137] The fourth detection logic detects situations where there is a high probability of contact with other moving objects or road structures as improper driving. For example, based on the surrounding detection information detected by the surrounding detection device 29, it detects situations where there is a high probability of contact with other moving objects or road structures, or where contact has occurred, as improper driving.

[0138] The fifth detection logic detects failure to perform safe driving as inappropriate driving. For example, it detects failure to slow down when overtaking a bicycle or pedestrian, obstructing the path of a priority vehicle, failing to give way to pedestrians at a crosswalk, not maintaining an appropriate distance between vehicles, reckless overtaking that is not proper, sudden lane changes immediately before an overtaken vehicle, and aggressive driving or obstruction of other moving objects as inappropriate driving. It also detects inappropriate driving when the automatic driving control device 27 intervenes to avoid the risk of collision.

[0139] The sixth detection logic detects inappropriate driving based on the driver's psychological or physiological state. For example, using information detected by DMS31, it detects inappropriate driving such as distracted driving based on the driver's gaze direction and drowsy driving based on the driver's level of alertness. It also detects states unsuitable for driving, such as irritation, as inappropriate driving. In this case, aggressive driving based on surrounding detection information or driving control information may also be detected as inappropriate driving. For distracted driving, the criteria for judging inappropriate driving can be based on whether the driver is not paying proper attention to the road ahead, using information about the vehicle's surroundings or the shape of the road ahead.

[0140] The seventh detection logic detects risk-taking behavior as inappropriate driving. For example, it detects inappropriate driving behavior such as the driver operating a smartphone while driving, not making hands-free calls, and looking away to watch entertainment devices.

[0141] The eighth detection logic detects failure to signal or non-compliance with safe driving practices as inappropriate driving. For example, it detects failure to use turn signals when turning right or left, failure to use headlights in tunnels, and excessive speed in rainy weather as inappropriate driving. It may also detect failure to sound the horn properly on mountain roads or roads with poor visibility as inappropriate driving.

[0142] The above inappropriate driving information is transmitted to the vehicle rental device 1 as driving-related information, which includes inappropriate driving type information indicating the type of inappropriate driving and inappropriate driving degree information indicating the degree of inappropriate driving.

[0143] In step S207 of Figure 4, the transmission of driving-related information is the same as in Embodiment 2: if the user is a good driver, inappropriate driving information is transmitted as driving-related information; if the user is a poor driver, inappropriate driving information and location information are transmitted as driving-related information.

[0144] <Effects> According to Embodiment 3, in addition to the effects of Embodiment 2, it is possible to calculate the driving manners score in more detail in order to detect various types of inappropriate driving.

[0145] <Modification 1> Embodiment 3 describes a case in which a rental vehicle 26 driven by a user who is a non-excellent driver transmits inappropriate driving information and location information as driving-related information. The driving-related information may be at least one of the following: video information inside and outside the vehicle, driving control information, and driver information. More detailed information about the inappropriate driving, such as video information, can be used to confirm what kind of inappropriate driving occurred. In other words, it is possible to confirm the state of inappropriate driving in more detail than the information shown in Figure 3.

[0146] <Modification 2> In Embodiment 3, it is assumed that the transmission rules are set using a binary value for the driving manners level DML. However, as in Modification 4 of Embodiment 1, the driving manners level may be evaluated using multiple values ​​or analogously, and three or more transmission rules may be set according to the driving manners level. An example of a transmission rule based on the five-level evaluation described in Modification 4 of Embodiment 1 is shown in Figure 9.

[0147] As shown in Figure 9, the lower the level of driving manners, the more driving-related information is transmitted, allowing the vehicle rental device 1 to verify detailed information. Note that the transmission rules shown in Figure 9 are just an example, and at least one of the following may be used as driving-related information: driving lane information, driver emotion information, and audio information inside and outside the vehicle.

[0148] Furthermore, the system may transmit supplementary information related to the types of inappropriate driving that users frequently engage in. For example, even if a user has a driving manners level of DML4, if they frequently fall asleep at the wheel, the system may transmit alertness information that is transmitted for driving manners levels of DML3 or lower. Also, even if a user has a driving manners level of DML3, if the automatic driving control device 27 frequently intervenes in their driving, the system may transmit surrounding detection information that is transmitted for driving manners levels of DML4 or lower. In this case, the vehicle rental device 1 will be able to understand the circumstances that led to the driving intervention based on the surrounding conditions.

[0149] <Modification 3> The vehicle rental device 1 may also be configured to notify the user terminal 20 of driving advice based on driving-related information transmitted from the rental vehicle 26, in response to access from the user terminal 20.

[0150] Additionally, graphs or other visual aids showing how close the driver is to the next highest level of driving manners (DML) may be presented.

[0151] Such presentations and advice can motivate users with a low DML (Driving Manners Level) to improve their DML.

[0152] <Modification 4> The rental vehicle 26 may also be a motorcycle. In this case, the system may be configured to detect inappropriate driving specific to motorcycles and calculate the driving manners score. Below are examples of inappropriate driving specific to motorcycles, from the first motorcycle-specific violation to the ninth motorcycle-specific violation.

[0153] The first type of violation specific to motorcycles is riding motorcycles in areas where motorcycle riding is not permitted, such as open spaces, parks, and within facilities. Normally, such areas are equipped with guardrails or poles, preventing four-wheeled vehicles from entering.

[0154] A violation specific to motorcycles is the act of riding a motorcycle on a sidewalk where motorcycles are not permitted. Sidewalks are not accessible to four-wheeled vehicles because they are equipped with street trees, curbs, or guardrails.

[0155] The third type of violation specific to motorcycles is the act of riding a motorcycle on a bicycle path when it is not permitted to do so.

[0156] The fourth type of violation specific to motorcycles is frequently riding on sidewalks. Examples include frequently riding from the roadway onto the sidewalk, and riding on the sidewalk, temporarily riding against traffic on the roadway, and then returning to the sidewalk.

[0157] The fifth violation specific to motorcycles is weaving within a single lane. This act is a breach of etiquette but is close to a violation of the Road Traffic Act. While four-wheeled vehicles can weave across lanes, it is difficult for them to weave without crossing lanes due to their width.

[0158] The sixth violation specific to motorcycles is riding side-by-side in the same lane. While this is close to a breach of etiquette, it is impossible for four-wheeled vehicles such as regular passenger cars or trucks, which have a width of more than half the lane width.

[0159] The seventh violation specific to motorcycles is riding against traffic on the shoulder of the road. Riding on the shoulder of the road, and weaving through narrow spaces, are not recommended actions, even when going in the right direction.

[0160] The eighth violation specific to motorcycles is making a U-turn within the same lane. Examples include making a sudden U-turn within the same lane and driving against traffic, and making a U-turn across two or so lanes. These actions are difficult for four-wheeled vehicles.

[0161] The ninth violation specific to motorcycles is the act of frequently tilting the vehicle. Repeatedly tipping the vehicle from side to side is also a breach of etiquette.

[0162] <Modification 5> The driving manners score may be calculated by detecting inappropriate driving specific to the type of rental vehicle 26. Examples of rental vehicle types 26 include trailers, trucks, special vehicles, passenger cars, and two-wheeled vehicles (motorcycles, e-bikes). Trailers and trucks have different restrictions on roads and speed limits due to weight limits compared to passenger cars, so the types of inappropriate driving also differ. Examples of e-bikes include electric-assist bicycles, e-scooters, and micro electric mobility devices (electric kick scooters, etc.).

[0163] Furthermore, since the occurrence of inappropriate driving varies depending on the type of passenger car, even for the same user, it may be possible to calculate the degree of driving manners for each vehicle type and set transmission rules accordingly.

[0164] <Modification 6> The vehicle rental device 1 may make the judgment regarding inappropriate driving. In this case, the type of raw data transmitted to the vehicle rental device 1 is selected according to the degree of driving manners, so the type of inappropriate driving determined by the vehicle rental device 1 will differ depending on the degree of driving manners.

[0165] <Variation 7> Transmission rules may be set according to the grade of the rental vehicle. For example, vehicles may be categorized into grades such as kei cars (sales price less than 1.5 million yen), regular passenger cars (sales price less than 3.5 million yen), luxury cars (sales price less than 10 million yen), and ultra-luxury cars (sales price 10 million yen or more), and transmission rules may be set so that the higher the grade, the greater the variety of driving-related information.

[0166] When lending to users, you should provide them with the transmission rules.

[0167] <Modification 8> In embodiments 1 to 3, it was assumed that the leased vehicles were the assets of the parties involved with the vehicle lease device 1, but this is not the only way. The vehicle lease device 1 may also be applied to an operational model in which a lease agreement is concluded between the individual owner of a vehicle and the leased vehicle. In this case, it may be possible to receive requests from the individual owner of each vehicle for transmission rules according to the degree of driving manners and set them for each leased vehicle.

[0168] When lending out vehicles to users, transmission rules should be provided. For example, private owners of ultra-luxury vehicles may not want their vehicles exposed to seawater or driven off-road. In such cases, the vehicle may be required to transmit information on whether or not it has driven through such unsuitable areas. Alternatively, the system could detect if the vehicle is about to enter an unsuitable area and notify the user to intervene to prevent it from driving through that area.

[0169] Furthermore, upon request from individual owners, the details of any improper driving may be provided to them.

[0170] <Embodiment 4> In Embodiments 1 to 3, the type of driving-related information that the rental vehicle transmits to the vehicle rental device was set according to the degree of driving manners. In Embodiment 4, according to the degree of driving manners, the vehicle rental device operates to intervene in some of the equipment installed in the rental vehicle in real time if the user is performing inappropriate driving.

[0171] <Configuration> Figure 10 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of the vehicle rental system according to Embodiment 4. As shown in Figure 10, Embodiment 4 is characterized in that the rental vehicle 33 is equipped with a driving intervention execution unit 35 and a notification device 36. The other configurations are the same as those of Embodiment 3 (see Figure 8), except for the configurations described below.

[0172] The driving intervention execution unit 35 controls the automatic driving control device 27 or the notification device 36 based on the driving intervention instruction from the vehicle rental device 1.

[0173] The notification device 36 provides various notifications to the driver of the rental vehicle 33. The notification device 36 may include at least one of a display device, an audio output device, and a device that provides a stimulus to the driver.

[0174] The automated driving control device 27 performs automated driving intervention on the rental vehicle 33 based on a request from the vehicle rental device 1.

[0175] The user management unit 6 refers to the driving manners level based on the occurrence of inappropriate driving and formulates driving intervention instructions for the rental vehicle 33.

[0176] The vehicle management unit 7 sends a driving intervention instruction to the loaned vehicle 33.

[0177] <Operation of Vehicle Rental Device 1> When the driving evaluation unit 5 detects inappropriate driving, the user management unit 6 compares the circumstances of the inappropriate driving with the user's driving manners and formulates a driving intervention instruction for the user while they are driving. The vehicle management unit 7 transmits the driving intervention instruction to the rental vehicle 33.

[0178] Figure 11 shows an example of driving interventions that can be performed depending on the driver's driving manners level. For a rental vehicle 33 driven by a user with a driving manners level of DML1, all driving interventions are possible, including display notifications, voice notifications, speed limits, and automatic stops. As shown in Figure 11, the lower the driving manners level, the more types of driving interventions are possible from the vehicle rental device 1.

[0179] <Operation of the rental vehicle 33> The driving intervention execution unit 35 controls the automatic driving control device 27 and the notification device 36 in accordance with the driving intervention instructions received from the vehicle rental device 1.

[0180] <Effects> According to Embodiment 4, in addition to Embodiments 1 to 3, driving intervention (driving assistance) can be performed according to the degree of driving manners. Generally, users do not want driving intervention from the vehicle rental device 1, but if their driving manners are poor, they are forced to reluctantly grant permission for driving intervention, which has the effect of strengthening their awareness of wanting to improve their driving manners. On the other hand, the operator of the vehicle rental device 1 can gain a sense of security that the rental vehicle 33 will be used appropriately by performing driving intervention on rental vehicles 33 driven by users with poor driving manners.

[0181] <Modification 1> The user management unit 6 may, on the condition that an additional fee is added to the rental fee for the rental vehicle 33, reduce its intervention in the driving of rental vehicles 33 driven by users with poor driving manners.

[0182] The operator of vehicle rental device 1 can mitigate the risk of vehicle damage by adding an additional fee.

[0183] Furthermore, it may be permitted to allow a reduction in driver intervention by having the customer pay a deposit at the time of rental, which will be refunded upon return of the rental vehicle 33.

[0184] <Hardware Configuration> In the vehicle rental device 1 described in Embodiment 1, the functions of the communication unit 2, information acquisition unit 3, driving evaluation unit 5, user management unit 6, and vehicle management unit 7 are realized by processing circuits. Specifically, the vehicle rental device 1 communicates with the rental vehicle 10 and the user terminal 20, acquires driving-related information from the rental vehicle 10 regarding the user's driving, evaluates the user's driving manners based on the driving-related information, manages a user profile including the driving manners, and includes a processing circuit for transmitting transmission rules corresponding to the driving manners based on the user profile to the rental vehicle 10. The processing circuit may be dedicated hardware, or it may be a processor (also called a CPU, central processing unit, processing unit, arithmetic unit, microprocessor, microcomputer, or DSP (Digital Signal Processor)) that executes a program stored in memory.

[0185] When the processing circuit is dedicated hardware, as shown in Figure 12, the processing circuit 40 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. The functions of the communication unit 2, the information acquisition unit 3, the driving evaluation unit 5, the user management unit 6, and the vehicle management unit 7 may each be implemented by a processing circuit 40, or all functions may be implemented together by a single processing circuit 40.

[0186] If the processing circuit 40 is the processor 50 shown in Figure 13, the functions of the communication unit 2, information acquisition unit 3, driving evaluation unit 5, user management unit 6, and vehicle management unit 7 are realized by software, firmware, or a combination of software and firmware. The software or firmware is written as a program and stored in memory 51. The processor 50 realizes each function by reading and executing the program recorded in memory 51. In other words, the vehicle rental device 1 includes memory 51 for storing a program that will consequently execute the steps of: communicating with the rental vehicle 10 and the user terminal 20, acquiring driving-related information about the user's driving from the rental vehicle 10, evaluating the user's driving manners based on the driving-related information, managing a user profile including the driving manners, and transmitting transmission rules corresponding to the driving manners based on the user profile to the rental vehicle 10. Furthermore, these programs can be said to cause the computer to execute the procedures or methods of the communication unit 2, information acquisition unit 3, driving evaluation unit 5, user management unit 6, and vehicle management unit 7. Here, "memory" refers to 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), magnetic disks, flexible disks, optical disks, compact disks, DVDs (Digital Versatile Discs), or any storage medium that may be used in the future.

[0187] Furthermore, some functions of the communication unit 2, information acquisition unit 3, driving evaluation unit 5, user management unit 6, and vehicle management unit 7 may be implemented using dedicated hardware, while other functions may be implemented using software or firmware.

[0188] Thus, the processing circuit can realize each of the above-mentioned functions through hardware, software, firmware, or a combination thereof.

[0189] Within the scope of this disclosure, it is possible to freely combine the embodiments, or to modify or omit the embodiments as appropriate.

[0190] Although this disclosure has been described in detail, the above description is illustrative and not limiting in all aspects. It is understood that countless variations not illustrated are possible.

[0191] 1. Vehicle rental device, 2. Communication unit, 3. Information acquisition unit, 4. Temporary storage unit, 5. Driving evaluation unit, 6. User management unit, 7. Vehicle management unit, 8. Map DB, 9. Display unit, 10. Rental vehicle, 11. Driving status transmission device, 12. Driving information acquisition unit, 13. Transmission information determination unit, 14. Transmission rule storage unit, 15. Communication unit, 16. In-vehicle LAN, 17. Positioning device, 18. Communication device, 19. Communication network, 20. User terminal, 21. Rental center, 22. Rental vehicle, 23. Driving status transmission device, 24. Inappropriate driving judgment unit, 25. Map DB, 26. Rental vehicle, 27. Automatic driving control device, 28. In-vehicle LAN, 29. Surroundings detection device, 30. Positioning device, 31. DMS, 32. Photography device, 33. Rental vehicle, 34. Driving status transmission device, 35. Driving intervention execution unit, 36. Notification device, 40 processing circuits, 50 processors, 51 memory.

Claims

1. A vehicle rental device comprising: an information acquisition unit that acquires driving-related information related to the user's driving from a rental vehicle to be lent to a user; a driving evaluation unit that evaluates the user's driving manners based on the driving-related information acquired by the information acquisition unit; a user management unit that manages a user profile including the driving manners evaluated by the driving evaluation unit; and a vehicle management unit that sets a transmission rule for the rental vehicle based on the user profile managed by the user management unit, such that the types of information included in the driving-related information increase as the driving manners decrease.

2. The vehicle rental device according to claim 1, wherein the rental vehicle is a two-wheeled vehicle, and the driving evaluation unit evaluates the degree of driving manners related to inappropriate driving specific to the two-wheeled vehicle.

3. The vehicle rental device according to claim 1, wherein the driving evaluation unit evaluates the degree of driving manners according to the type of rental vehicle.

4. The vehicle rental device according to claim 1, wherein the driving-related information includes information detected by equipment installed in the rental vehicle.

5. The vehicle rental device according to claim 1, wherein the driving-related information includes whether or not the user has engaged in inappropriate driving as analyzed in the rental vehicle, and the type of such inappropriate driving.

6. The vehicle rental device according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle management unit formulates the transmission rules which stipulate that the location information of the rental vehicle be included in the driving-related information when the driving manners level is below a predetermined value.

7. The vehicle rental device according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle management unit formulates transmission rules that stipulate that when the driving manners level is below a predetermined value, the user's image captured by a camera installed in the rental vehicle or the surrounding image of the rental vehicle be included in the driving-related information.

8. The vehicle rental device according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle management unit formulates the transmission rules which stipulate that when the driving manners level is below a predetermined value, the driver information detected by the DMS (Driver Monitoring System) installed in the rental vehicle should be included in the driving-related information.

9. The vehicle rental device according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle management unit formulates the transmission rules which stipulate that when the driving manners level is below a predetermined value, the driving control information of the rental vehicle is included in the driving-related information.

10. The vehicle rental device according to claim 1, wherein the user management unit permits intervention by an alerting device installed in the rental vehicle based on the degree of driving manners when the user engages in inappropriate driving.

11. The vehicle rental device according to claim 1, wherein the user management unit permits intervention in the automatic driving control device installed in the rental vehicle based on the driving manners level when the user performs inappropriate driving.

12. The vehicle rental device according to claim 1, wherein the user management unit permits a reduction in the types of information included in the driving-related information specified in the transmission rules when an additional charge is added to the rental fee for the rental vehicle.

13. The vehicle rental device according to claim 1, wherein the user management unit reduces its intervention in the driving of the rental vehicle when an additional charge is added to the rental fee for the rental vehicle.

14. The vehicle rental device according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle management unit sets the transmission rules for each rental vehicle.

15. The vehicle rental device according to claim 14, wherein the rental vehicle is a vehicle for which a rental agreement has been concluded with the owner of the rental vehicle, and the vehicle management unit sets the transmission rules for each rental vehicle at the request of the owner.

16. The vehicle rental device according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle rental device includes the rental vehicle.

17. A vehicle lending method comprising: obtaining driving-related information related to the user's driving from a rental vehicle lent to a user; evaluating the user's driving manners based on the obtained driving-related information; managing a user profile including the evaluated driving manners; and setting transmission rules for the rental vehicle based on the managed user profile, such that the types of information included in the driving-related information increase as the driving manners decrease.

Images