Patent ID: 6988034

Claim:
A method for communicating driver specific information of a driver of a rental vehicle, the method comprising: moving a rental vehicle within a communication zone of a short-range radio transceiver; triggering establishment of temporary communication between the short-range radio transceiver and a navigational unit included in the rental vehicle in response to entry into the communication zone; transferring driver specific information of a driver assigned to the rental vehicle to the navigation unit via the short-range radio transceiver in response to establishment of temporary communication, where the driver specific information includes driver data, an intended destination of the driver and a vehicle setting to set a vehicle operator interface of the rental vehicle for the driver; and transferring additional driver specific information from the rental vehicle with the short-range radio transceiver in response to control and operation of the rental vehicle by the driver, where the additional driver specific information includes vehicle operational data and the time the rental vehicle was taken by the driver; maneuvering the rental vehicle out of the communication zone; re-entering the communication zone at a later time; triggering transmittal of a navigation coordinate indicative of a drop off point for the rental vehicle and a return time of the rental vehicle in response to re-entry; and automatically generating navigation instructions from the navigation coordinate indicative of a drop off point to guide the driver to the drop off point.