A vehicle seat is provided with a side support device configured to assist vehicle exit behavior of an occupant while stably securing a holding property for the sitting occupant. The vehicle seat includes a side support device configured to support a cushion side portion of a seat cushion to be switchable between a seating available position and a vehicle exit assist position, a lock device configured to lock the cushion side portion in the seating available position, and a lock release device configured to release a lock state of the lock device. The lock release device includes a first lever configured to detect sitting of the occupant on a cushion center portion and a second lever configured to detect sitting of the occupant on the cushion side portion. The lock state is released when the detection by the second lever occurs while the detection by the first lever continues.

The systems and methods disclosed herein are directed to providing a notification of a presence of an occupant in a vehicle before arriving at a destination. In an illustrative embodiment, the vehicle may include a location system for tracking routes taken or traveled by the vehicle. The vehicle may include a detection system for determining whether the occupant is in the vehicle along those routes traveled by the vehicle. The vehicle may also include a notification system. The notification system may store the routes traveled by the vehicle with and without the occupant in the vehicle. The notification system may provide a notification when a route is taken with the occupant and the route is not associated with the occupant based on the historical patterns of the routes traveled by vehicle with and without the occupant.

A seat assembly is provided with a seat bottom adapted to be mounted to a vehicle body. A seat back is adapted to be mounted adjacent to the seat bottom. At least one actuator is oriented in a region of one of the seat bottom and the seat back to adjust a seating position. A controller is in electrical communication with the actuator and is programmed to receive input indicative of a total travel time or distance, and adjust the seating position after a predetermined portion of the total travel time or distance to limit occupant discomfort.

Seats and methods for controlling a seat are described. A position of the user's leg is sensed relative to the position of the front of the seat. A determination is made as to if the position of the user's leg from a front of the seat is greater than a gap minimum. If the gap is greater than the gap minimum, a cushion length extender portion of the seat is moved until the sensed position is less than or equal to the gap minimum. In an example, the remainder of seat base is held in a fixed position within the vehicle environment. The gap minimum can be with the cushion length extender portion in slight contact with the user's leg. The sensor can be at a front face of seat. The sensor can be on the cushion length extender portion of the seat.

Methods and systems for a traffic control system provide arrangements and processes for managing automated vehicles. The traffic control system can register vehicles and then control the operation of the vehicles through a section of roadway. The automated control includes the communication of directions and other messages that ensure the proper function of the vehicle while under the guidance of the traffic control system.

An occupant support adapted for use in a vehicle includes a seat bottom, a seat back, and a sensory system. The seat bottom is coupled to a floor of the vehicle. The seat back extends upwardly away from the seat bottom. The sensor system is configured to monitor for fatigue of an occupant of the occupant support.

Disclosed are active vehicle seat assemblies, methods for making and using such seat assemblies, and vehicles with active seat assemblies for counteracting unwanted inertial forces. An active vehicle seat assembly is disclosed that includes an occupant chair with interconnected seat and backrest portions. A motion sensor detects motion of the occupant chair and outputs signals indicative thereof. An automated platform movably mounts the occupant chair to the vehicle body. The platform includes: a pitch plate that pivots about two lateral axes; a pitch actuator that selectively pivots the pitch plate; a roll plate that pivots about two longitudinal axes; and a roll actuator that selectively pivots the roll plate. An on-board controller responds to signals from the motion sensor indicative of inertial motion disturbances to the chair by transmitting control signals to the pitch and/or roll actuators to pivot the pitch and/or roll plates to thereby counteract the inertial disturbances.

Methods and systems for a complete vehicle ecosystem are provided. Specifically, systems that when taken alone, or together, provide an individual or group of individuals with an intuitive and comfortable vehicular environment. The present disclosure includes a system to create, modify, and maintain profiles associated with users. The user profiles are generated based on selectively collecting data associated with the users. Although each user profile may include settings, preferences, habits, and content associated with an individual user and/or vehicle, some user profiles may represent multiple users. These user profiles can change a configuration of a vehicle to match settings for a user, such as a driver and/or passenger. The configurations may also include the recognition of a unique set of gestures for a user. Further, the user profiles can be transferred from vehicle-to-vehicle and/or user-to-user.

A seating posture is stabilized for the shoulders of a passenger seated on a vehicle seat. A vehicle seat is provided with a seat back configured to support the seated person from the rear. A shoulder support portion of the seat back configured to support a corresponding one of the shoulders of the seated passenger includes an air cell configured to expand when air is supplied. When the air cell expands, one end portion of the shoulder support portion on the outside in the width direction of the vehicle seat moves more forward than the other end portion of the shoulder support portion on the inside in the width direction.

Systems, apparatus and methods implemented in algorithms, hardware, software, firmware, logic, or circuitry may be configured to process data and sensory input to determine whether an object external to an autonomous vehicle (e.g., another vehicle, a pedestrian, road debris, a bicyclist, etc.) may be a potential collision threat to the autonomous vehicle. The autonomous vehicle may be configured to implement interior active safety systems to protect passengers of the autonomous vehicle during a collision with an object or during evasive maneuvers by the autonomous vehicle, for example. The interior active safety systems may be configured to provide passengers with notice of an impending collision and/or emergency maneuvers by the vehicle by tensioning seat belts prior to executing an evasive maneuver and/or prior to a predicted point of collision.