EP4377937A1

EP4377937A1 - Vehicle, apparatuses, methods and computer programs for finding a better parking space for a vehicle

Info

Publication number: EP4377937A1
Application number: EP21773590.1A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Marc Deharde; Jens Kampermann; Matthias Priebe; Jithin Reju; Constantin Sfirnaciuc
Original assignee: Volkswagen AG
Current assignee: Cariad SE
Priority date: 2021-09-09
Filing date: 2021-09-09
Publication date: 2024-06-05
Also published as: WO2023036416A1

Abstract

Embodiments relate to a vehicle, apparatuses, methods, and computer programs for finding a better parking space for a vehicle. An apparatus (10) for finding a better parking space for a vehicle (100; 200) comprises one or more interfaces (12) configured to communicate with a network service and a control module (14) configured to control the one or more interfaces (12). The control module (14) is configured to obtain a parking quality criterion for the vehicle (100; 200); determine a quality measure for a current parking space based on the quality criterion; and communicate with a network service to find a another parking space with a higher quality measure.

Description

Vehicle, Apparatuses, Methods and Computer Programs for Finding a Better Parking Space for a Vehicle

The present invention relates to a vehicle, apparatuses, methods, and computer programs for finding a better parking space for a vehicle, more particularly but not exclusively, to a concept for communicating information on a quality of a current parking space with a network service to find a better parking space.

Especially downtown areas become more and more crowded. With the increasing number of vehicles, parking spaces become a scarce resource. As result one approach is to keep vehicles outside the critical areas. This can be achieved using park-and-ride parking lots outside to offer people to leave their car and use public transportation like subways, trains, street trains, busses etc. to commute between the park-and-ride lot and their destination. Another approach makes use of parking permits, which are mostly issued to residents of a certain area. These parking permits are a measure to control the number of vehicles versus the number of parking spots available.

However, the known counter measures introduce inconveniences and prolonged travelling times. For example, parking in a residential area overnight may not be permitted for nonresidents. Travelling or commuting times are prolonged whenever the means of transportation is changed, e.g. when getting on or off the bus, the subway, etc.

There is a demand for an improved parking concept for vehicles. The demand is addressed according to the appended independent claims.

Embodiments are based on the finding that user specific quality information on a parking space can be made available to a network service. Via the network service parking spaces with a higher quality measure for the user can be found. The more quality information on parking spaces of different vehicles is available the higher the chances that quality measures can be improved by rearranging the vehicles. For example, vehicles may indicate their distance from home or office and the location of their home and office. Since home and office locations differ per vehicle synergy effects can be achieved through re-arranging the vehicles, e.g. by automatically driving the vehicles to closer parking spaces, which provide better quality measures. Embodiments provide a method for finding a better parking space for a vehicle. The method comprises obtaining a parking quality criterion for the vehicle and determining a quality measure for a current parking space based on the parking quality criterion. The method further comprises communicating with a network service to find another parking space with a higher quality measure. Quality measures of parking spaces may be improved using the network service.

In a further embodiment the method comprises re-parking the vehicle to the other parking space if the higher quality measure exceeds the quality measure by more than a predefined threshold. By re-parking the vehicle to a better space, time and effort may be saved for a user to get back to the vehicle.

For example, the re-parking may comprise automatically re-parking by the vehicle or the reparking comprises manually re-parking the vehicle. Some embodiments may hence automatically put the car in a better spot. In some embodiments a driver may receive a recommendation on a better parking spot and then manually maneuver the vehicle to the better spot.

The quality criteria may depend on a distance and/or a traveling time between the vehicle and a user defined location. The user defined location may allow user specific determination of the quality of a parking space in embodiments. For example, the user defined location may be a home location of the user. In embodiments, how far a vehicle is parked away from a user’s home may determine the quality measure of a parking space.

In some embodiments the predefined threshold may be a user defined time or distance threshold. That way, re-parking with only low benefits/quality measure improvements may be limited.

The communicating may comprise communicating with other vehicles. Hence, the network service may be implemented in a distributed manner and a plurality of vehicles may contribute. That way, inter-vehicular communication may be used to determine a better parking spot and a re-arrangement of the vehicles. For example, the communicating may comprise finding another vehicle to take a parking space from. Said other vehicle may in turn find another parking space that is better suited to its situation and so on. In some embodiments, a number of rearrangements may result from the distributed or centralized (with a central coordinating network entity) implementation of the method. In further embodiments the communicating may comprise transmitting information on a location of the current parking space to the network service and/or other vehicles. That way, other vehicles may be enabled to identify the current space as beneficial for them. The communicating may comprise receiving information on a location of other parking spaces of other vehicles and information on change criteria for the other vehicles. A parking space may be selected from a current catalog of other potential parking spaces available.

For example, the change criteria may comprise a reference location for another vehicle. That way, unnecessary negotiations may be reduced or avoided, since the reference location of another vehicle may indicate which parking spaces are an improvement and which one are not.

Moreover, the method may comprise communicating information on a parking schedule or parking behavior with the network service. The network service may then determine a parking schedule or table and enable a prediction on certain parking capabilities during certain day times.

Embodiments also provide a method for a network service and for finding a better parking space for a vehicle. The method comprises receiving information on a parking location and a parking quality criterion from the vehicle and obtaining information on a quality measure for a current parking space based on the parking quality criterion. The method further comprises finding another parking space with a higher quality measure for the vehicle and communicating information on the other parking space to the vehicle. The network service may be implemented in a central network node, e.g. a server in the network or even at a vehicle coordinating the service, or in a distributed manner at a plurality of vehicles.

Yet another embodiment is an apparatus for a network service and for finding a better parking space for a vehicle. The apparatus comprises one or more interfaces configured to communicate with one or more vehicles. The apparatus further comprises a control module configured to control the one or more interfaces and to receive information on a parking location and a parking quality criterion from the vehicle. The control module is further configured to obtain information on a quality measure for a current parking space based on the parking quality criterion and to find another parking space with a higher quality measure for the vehicle. The control module is configured to communicate information on the other parking space to the vehicle. Another embodiment is an apparatus for finding a better parking space for a vehicle. The apparatus comprises one or more interfaces configured to communicate with a network service. The apparatus further comprises a control module configured to control the one or more interfaces and to obtain a parking quality criterion for the vehicle. The control module is further configured to determine a quality measure for a current parking space based on the quality criterion and to communicate with a network service to find a another parking space with a higher quality measure.

Yet another embodiment is a vehicle comprising an embodiment of an apparatus as described herein. A further embodiment is a vehicular network comprising multiple vehicles.

Embodiments further provide a computer program having a program code for performing one or more of the above described methods, when the computer program is executed on a computer, processor, or programmable hardware component. A further embodiment is a computer readable storage medium storing instructions which, when executed by a computer, processor, or programmable hardware component, cause the computer to implement one of the methods described herein.

Some other features or aspects will be described using the following non-limiting embodiments of apparatuses or methods or computer programs or computer program products by way of example only, and with reference to the accompanying figures, in which:

Fig. 1 illustrates block diagrams of an embodiment of an apparatus for a vehicle, an embodiment of a vehicle, an embodiment of an apparatus for a network service and an embodiment of a network component;

Fig. 2 illustrates a block diagram of an embodiment of a method for finding a better parking space for a vehicle;

Fig. 3 illustrates a block diagram of an embodiment of a method for a network service and for finding a better parking space for a vehicle; and

Fig. 4 illustrates an embodiment of a vehicular network which allows finding better parking spaces. Various example embodiments will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings in which some example embodiments are illustrated. In the figures, the thicknesses of lines, layers or regions may be exaggerated for clarity. Optional components may be illustrated using broken, dashed or dotted lines.

Accordingly, while example embodiments are capable of various modifications and alternative forms, embodiments thereof are shown by way of example in the figures and will herein be described in detail. It should be understood, however, that there is no intent to limit example embodiments to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, example embodiments are to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the scope of the invention. Like numbers refer to like or similar elements throughout the description of the figures.

As used herein, the term "or" refers to a non-exclusive or, unless otherwise indicated (e.g., “or else” or “or in the alternative”). Furthermore, as used herein, words used to describe a relationship between elements should be broadly construed to include a direct relationship or the presence of intervening elements unless otherwise indicated. For example, when an element is referred to as being “connected” or “coupled” to another element, the element may be directly connected or coupled to the other element or intervening elements may be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being “directly connected” or “directly coupled” to another element, there are no intervening elements present. Similarly, words such as “between”, “adjacent”, and the like should be interpreted in a like fashion.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of example embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”, “comprising”, “includes” or “including”, when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components or groups thereof.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which example embodiments belong. It will be further understood that terms, e.g., those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein. Fig. 1 illustrates block diagrams of an embodiment of an apparatus 10 for a vehicle 100, an embodiment of a vehicle 100, an embodiment of an apparatus 20 for a network service and an embodiment of a network component 200. The apparatus 10 for finding a better parking space for a vehicle comprises one or more interfaces 12, which are configured to communicate with a network service. The apparatus 10 comprises a control module 14, which is configured to control the one or more interfaces 12 and which is coupled to the one or more interfaces 12. The control module 14 is configured to obtain a parking quality criterion for the vehicle 100 and to determine a quality measure for a current parking space based on the quality criterion. The control module 14 is further configured to communicate with a network service to find a another parking space with a higher quality measure. Fig.1 further shows an embodiment of a vehicle 100 (shown in dotted lines as it is optional from the perspective of the apparatus 10), which comprises the apparatus 10.

Fig. 1 further shows an embodiment of an apparatus 20 for a network service and for finding a better parking space for a vehicle 100. The apparatus 20 comprises one or more interfaces 22 configured to communicate with one or more vehicles. The apparatus 20 further comprises a control module 24 configured to control the one or more interfaces 22 and which is coupled to the one or more interfaces 22. The control module 24 is configured to receive information on a parking location and a parking quality criterion from the vehicle 100 and to obtain information on a quality measure for a current parking space based on the parking quality criterion. The control module 24 is further configured to find another parking space with a higher quality measure for the vehicle 100 and to communicate information on the other parking space to the vehicle 100.

In embodiments the one or more interfaces 12, 22 may correspond to any means for obtaining, receiving, transmitting or providing analog or digital signals or information, e.g. any connector, contact, pin, register, input port, output port, conductor, lane, etc. which allows providing or obtaining a signal or information. An interface 12, 22 may be wireless or wireline and it may be configured to communicate, i.e. transmit or receive signals, information with further internal or external components. The one or more interfaces 12, 22 may comprise further components to enable according communication in a (mobile) communication system, such components may include transceiver (transmitter and/or receiver) components, such as one or more Low-Noise Amplifiers (LNAs), one or more Power-Amplifiers (PAs), one or more duplexers, one or more diplexers, one or more filters or filter circuitry, one or more converters, one or more mixers, accordingly adapted radio frequency components, etc. The one or more interfaces 12, 22 may be coupled to one or more antennas, which may correspond to any transmit and/or receive antennas, such as horn antennas, dipole antennas, patch antennas, sector antennas etc. In some examples, the one or more interfaces 12, 22 may serve the purpose of transmitting or receiving or both, transmitting and receiving, information, such as information, input data, control information, further information messages, etc.

As shown in Fig. 1 the respective one or more interfaces 12, 22 are coupled to the respective control modules 14, 24 at the apparatuses 10, 20. In embodiments the control modules 14, 24 may be implemented using one or more processing units, one or more processing devices, any means for processing, such as a processor, a computer or a programmable hardware component being operable with accordingly adapted software. In other words, the described functions of the control modules 14, 24 may as well be implemented in software, which is then executed on one or more programmable hardware components. Such hardware components may comprise a general-purpose processor, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), a microcontroller, etc.

In embodiments the vehicle may be any vehicle, e.g. a car, a truck, a van, a bus, a motor bike and it may comprise an electric or a combustion engine.

Fig. 2 illustrates a block diagram of an embodiment of a method 30 for finding a better parking space for a vehicle 100. The method 20 for finding a better parking space for the vehicle 100 comprises obtaining 32 a parking quality criterion for the vehicle 100 and determining 34 a quality measure for a current parking space based on the parking quality criterion. The method 30 further comprises communicating 36 with a network service to find another parking space with a higher quality measure.

Fig. 3 illustrates a block diagram of an embodiment of a method 40 for a network service and for finding a better parking space for a vehicle 100. The method 40 comprises receiving 42 information on a parking location and a parking quality criterion from the vehicle 100 and obtaining 44 information on a quality measure for a current parking space based on the parking quality criterion. The method 40 further comprises finding 46 another parking space with a higher quality measure for the vehicle 100 and communicating 48 information on the other parking space to the vehicle 100.

Especially in cities, parking spaces are a scarce resource. As a result, cars have to be parked far away from home, especially in peak hours. Embodiments may provide mechanisms to rearrange vehicles. For example, in off-peak parking hours, all vehicles which are parked further away from home than a user-defined distance automatically exchange park spaces based on cloud information. In embodiments the methods 30, 40 may hence comprise re-parking the vehicle 100 to the other parking space if the higher quality measure exceeds the quality measure by more than a predefined threshold.

Fig. 4 illustrates an embodiment of a vehicular network 400, which allows finding better parking spaces. Fig. 4 shows a first vehicle 100, which is parked far away from its home 102. What is defined as “far away” and what is not can be defined by the user of vehicle 100. In the embodiment shown in Fig. 4 the user of vehicle 100 defined a distance threshold 104, which he considers close to home 102 and which is indicated by the circle 104. As vehicle 100 is parked outside area 104 it is considered far away or being a candidate for re-parking, respectively. Likewise vehicle 200 is parked outside the area 204, which its user defined as close to his home 202 using a similar threshold. Both vehicles communicate with a cloud 300 to check whether a better parking space is available, which is indicated by the arrows in Fig. 4. The cloud 300 can be made up of or comprise other vehicles, infrastructure components of communication networks, servers, routers, etc.

In the embodiment, the shown vehicles 100, 200 find each other through the communication indicated and then decide to exchange parking spaces. In this simple embodiment a simple exchange between two vehicles 100, 200 is shown. Of course more complex arrangements between multiple vehicles are conceivable in embodiments. Embodiments are not restricted to just two cars. Potentially, there could be any number vehicles involved, e.g. a pool of cars exchange their parking spaces. For example, a first vehicle takes the space of a second vehicle, the second vehicle takes the space of a third vehicle, and the third vehicles takes the space of the first vehicle. Such a scheme may extent to any number of vehicles in embodiments.

The actual re-parking may comprise automatically re-parking by the vehicle, i.e. using means of automated or remotely operated driving without involving the owner. In other embodiments, the re-parking may comprise manually re-parking the vehicle, the network service may then make use of communication equipment of a user, e.g. a communication unit of the vehicle 100, a smart phone or computer, which comprises an embodiment of the above apparatus 10, 20. The user may then re-park the car being supported by his communication device.

As further indicated by Fig. 4 the quality criteria depends on a distance/radius, which defines the regions 104 and 204. Additionally or alternatively a traveling time between the vehicles 100, 200 and a user defined location 102, 104 may be considered. In the embodiment of Fig. 4, the user defined locations are the home locations 102, 202 of the users. In further embodiments they could also be any other pre-defined place, e.g. a frequently visited place, an office, a parents house, a sports facility, etc.

As described above the predefined threshold may be a user defined time or distance threshold. In some embodiments in the methods 30, 40 the communicating may comprise communicating with other vehicles (directly, via other vehicles, or via infrastructure). For example, the communicating comprises finding another vehicle to take parking space from. The participating vehicles then share the according information among each other. For example, the communicating 36 comprises transmitting information on a location of the current parking space to the network service and/or other vehicles. The communicating 36 may also comprise receiving information on a location of other parking spaces of other vehicles and information on change criteria for the other vehicles. Now, vehicles can indicate their interest in other parking spaces and their willingness to take another spot. For example, the change criteria comprises a reference location for another vehicle, e.g. the change criteria may indicate where, in which region, at what distance to a reference location, etc. an alternative parking space would have to be for said vehicle to be willing to participate in a re-arrangement. That way, a group of vehicles may be found, in which all vehicles are willing take other spaces from the group. Once such a group is found, this state or fact may be used as trigger for the corresponding re-parking maneuvers of the vehicles in the group.

This may be coordinated by the network service, which could be centrally implemented at a network node (infrastructure or vehicle) or which could be implemented in a distributed manner in the participating vehicles.

In further embodiments the communicating 36 may comprise communicating information on a parking schedule or parking behavior with the network service. That way the network service can predict parking space availability, change behavior, etc. and learn or use such information for making future predictions or parking recommendations.

In the embodiment of Fig. 4, for example, if a vehicle is parked further away from home than the distance threshold, the vehicle tries to find a better parking space. As the parking spaces, which are used for re-allocation of the vehicles, could be occupied by other vehicles during the reallocation process, this feature may be probability based. The parking distance can be improved e.g. in 90% of the cases, which means that the situation could also be worsened in some cases. If the re-allocation is e.g. at night by the automated vehicles, the probability of improving the parking spot is very high.

In an embodiment the process is as follows:

- Carl 100 and Car2 200 are parked too far away from home 102, 202,

- Carl and Car2 check with the cloud 300 (network service) if better parking spaces are available,

- The cloud 300 may process the information and proposes the parking space of Carl 100 to Car2 200 and vice versa, and

If both cars accept the proposal, the parking exchange process is initiated.

This exchange can also be performed by an arbitrary number of vehicles, which all agree on a proposal and then exchange parking places/spaces. Embodiments may enable more efficient use of parking spaces, which may lead to a higher convenience for owners/drivers/users. Embodiments may also support human drivers who exchange parking spaces via a smartphone or vehicular app.

Embodiments may further be or relate to a computer program having a program code for performing one or more of the above methods, when the computer program is executed on a computer or processor. Steps, operations or processes of various above-described methods may be performed by programmed computers or processors. Examples may also cover program storage devices such as digital data storage media, which are machine, processor or computer readable and encode machine-executable, processor-executable or computerexecutable programs of instructions. The instructions perform or cause performing some or all of the acts of the above-described methods. The program storage devices may comprise or be, for instance, digital memories, magnetic storage media such as magnetic disks and magnetic tapes, hard drives, or optically readable digital data storage media. Further examples may also cover computers, processors or control units programmed to perform the acts of the abovedescribed methods or (field) programmable logic arrays ((F)PLAs) or (field) programmable gate arrays ((F)PGAs), programmed to perform the acts of the above-described methods.

The description and drawings merely illustrate the principles of the disclosure. Furthermore, all examples recited herein are principally intended expressly to be only for illustrative purposes to aid the reader in understanding the principles of the disclosure and the concepts contributed by the inventor(s) to furthering the art. All statements herein reciting principles, aspects, and examples of the disclosure, as well as specific examples thereof, are intended to encompass equivalents thereof. A functional block denoted as “means for ...” performing a certain function may refer to a circuit that is configured to perform a certain function. Hence, a “means for s.th.” may be implemented as a “means configured to or suited for s.th.”, such as a device or a circuit configured to or suited for the respective task.

Functions of various elements shown in the figures, including any functional blocks labeled as “means”, “means for providing a signal”, “means for generating a signal.”, etc., may be implemented in the form of dedicated hardware, such as “a signal provider”, “a signal processing unit”, “a processor”, “a controller”, etc. as well as hardware capable of executing software in association with appropriate software. When provided by a processor, the functions may be provided by a single dedicated processor, by a single shared processor, or by a plurality of individual processors, some of which or all of which may be shared. However, the term “processor” or “controller” is by far not limited to hardware exclusively capable of executing software, but may include digital signal processor (DSP) hardware, network processor, application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), field programmable gate array (FPGA), read only memory (ROM) for storing software, random access memory (RAM), and non-volatile storage. Other hardware, conventional and/or custom, may also be included.

A block diagram may, for instance, illustrate a high-level circuit diagram implementing the principles of the disclosure. Similarly, a flow chart, a flow diagram, a state transition diagram, a pseudo code, and the like may represent various processes, operations or steps, which may, for instance, be substantially represented in computer readable medium and so executed by a computer or processor, whether or not such computer or processor is explicitly shown. Methods disclosed in the specification or in the claims may be implemented by a device having means for performing each of the respective acts of these methods.

It is to be understood that the disclosure of multiple acts, processes, operations, steps or functions disclosed in the specification or claims may not be construed as to be within the specific order, unless explicitly or implicitly stated otherwise, for instance for technical reasons. Therefore, the disclosure of multiple acts or functions will not limit these to a particular order unless such acts or functions are not interchangeable for technical reasons. Furthermore, in some examples a single act, function, process, operation or step may include or may be broken into multiple sub-acts, -functions, -processes, -operations or -steps, respectively. Such sub acts may be included and part of the disclosure of this single act unless explicitly excluded.

Furthermore, the following claims are hereby incorporated into the detailed description, where each claim may stand on its own as a separate example. While each claim may stand on its own as a separate example, it is to be noted that - although a dependent claim may refer in the claims to a specific combination with one or more other claims - other examples may also include a combination of the dependent claim with the subject matter of each other dependent or independent claim. Such combinations are explicitly proposed herein unless it is stated that a specific combination is not intended. Furthermore, it is intended to include also features of a claim to any other independent claim even if this claim is not directly made dependent to the independent claim.

List of reference signs apparatus for finding a better parking space for a vehicle one or more interfaces control module apparatus for a network service and for finding a better parking space for a vehicle one or more interfaces control module method for finding a better parking space for a vehicle obtaining a parking quality criterion for the vehicle determining a quality measure for a current parking space based on the parking quality criterion communicating with a network service to find another parking space with a higher quality measure method for a network service and for finding a better parking space for a vehicle receiving information on a parking location and a parking quality criterion from the vehicle obtaining information on a quality measure for a current parking space based on the parking quality criterion finding another parking space with a higher quality measure for the vehicle communicating user specific information with the vehicle communicating information on the other parking space to the vehicle vehicle vehicle cloud network

Claims

1. A method (30) for finding a better parking space for a vehicle (100; 200), the method (30) comprising obtaining (32) a parking quality criterion for the vehicle (100; 200); determining (34) a quality measure for a current parking space based on the parking quality criterion; and communicating (36) with a network service to find another parking space with a higher quality measure.

2. The method (30) of claim 1, further comprising re-parking the vehicle (100; 200) to the other parking space if the higher quality measure exceeds the quality measure by more than a predefined threshold.

3. The method (30) of claim 2, wherein the re-parking comprises automatically re-parking by the vehicle (100; 200), or wherein the re-parking comprises manually re-parking the vehicle (100; 200).

4. The method (30) of one of the claims 1 to 3, wherein the quality criteria depends on a distance and/or a traveling time between the vehicle (100, 200) and a user defined location (102; 202).

5. The method (30) of claim 4, wherein the user defined location (102; 202) is a home location of the user.

6. The method (30) of one of the claims 2 to 5, wherein the predefined threshold is a user defined time or distance threshold.

7. The method (30) of one of the claims 1 to 6, wherein the communicating (36) comprises communicating with other vehicles, and/or wherein the communicating (36) comprises finding another vehicle to take parking space from.

8. The method (30) of one of the claims 1 to 7, wherein the communicating (36) comprises transmitting information on a location of the current parking space to the network service and/or other vehicles, and/or wherein the communicating (36) comprises receiving information on a location of other parking spaces of other vehicles and information on change criteria for the other vehicles.

9. The method (30) of claim 8, wherein the change criteria comprises a reference location for another vehicle.

10. The method (30) of one of the claims 1 to 9, wherein the communicating (36) comprises communicating information on a parking schedule or parking behavior with the network service.

11. A method (40) for a network service and for finding a better parking space for a vehicle (100; 200), the method (40) comprising receiving (42) information on a parking location and a parking quality criterion from the vehicle (100; 200); obtaining (44) information on a quality measure for a current parking space based on the parking quality criterion; finding (46) another parking space with a higher quality measure for the vehicle (100; 200); and communicating (48) information on the other parking space to the vehicle (100, 200).

12. A computer program having a program code for performing at least one of the methods (30; 40) of one of the claims 1 to 11 , when the computer program is executed on a computer, a processor, or a programmable hardware component.

13. An apparatus (10) for finding a better parking space for a vehicle (100; 200), the apparatus (10) comprising one or more interfaces (12) configured to communicate with a network service; and a control module (14) configured to control the one or more interfaces (12) and to obtain a parking quality criterion for the vehicle (100; 200); determine a quality measure for a current parking space based on the quality criterion; and communicate with a network service to find a another parking space with a higher quality measure.

14. An apparatus (20) for a network service and for finding a better parking space for a vehicle (100; 200), the apparatus comprising one or more interfaces (22) configured to communicate with one or more vehicles (100; 200); and a control module (24) configured to control the one or more interfaces (12) and to receive information on a parking location and a parking quality criterion from the vehicle (100; 200); obtain information on a quality measure for a current parking space based on the parking quality criterion; find another parking space with a higher quality measure for the vehicle (100; 200); and communicate information on the other parking space to the vehicle (100; 200).

15. A vehicle (100; 200) comprising the apparatus (10) of claim 13 or the apparatus (20) of claim 14.