A barrier door may include a section including an outer stationary portion and an inner movable portion disposed within the outer stationary portion, an actuator, and a controller. The actuator may move the inner movable portion between different positions to control flow of air between a protective enclosure and a volume outside of the protective enclosure. The controller may monitor one or more operating characteristics of the actuator and may modify an operational status of the actuator to control the flow of the air between the protective enclosure and the volume outside of the protective enclosure based at least in part on the one or more operating characteristics.

A computer device may include logic configured to detect a wake up event that wakes the computer device from an idle mode, wherein the wake up event indicates that a user is getting ready to use a vehicle; obtain accelerometer data from an accelerometer, associated with the vehicle, during a time period that includes the wake up event; determine a number of door slam events during the time period based on the obtained accelerometer data; and determine a number of people in the vehicle based on the determined number of door slam events.

A system, for controlling socially one or more climate-affecting vehicle devices, such as for use with an autonomous vehicle. The system includes a non-transitory computer-readable storage component comprising an interface module that, when executed by a hardware-based processing unit, obtains a ride-sharer passenger profile for each of multiple passengers of an autonomous vehicle. The hardware-based processing unit is part of the system in various embodiments. The storage component includes a social vehicle-climate-manager module that, when executed by the hardware-based processing unit, determines group climate parameters for the autonomous vehicle based on the ride-sharer profiles. And the storage component includes an output module that, when executed by the hardware-based processing unit, controls the autonomous-vehicle climate-affecting devices based on the group climate parameters determined.

A vehicle seat in accordance with the present disclosure includes a seat bottom and a seat back. The seat back is coupled to the seat bottom and arranged to extend in an upward direction away from the seat bottom. The vehicle seat further includes an electronics system.

A method for estimating thermal sensation calculates, on the basis of a thermal image, a first temperature, which is a surface temperature of a first area, and a second temperature, which is a surface temperature of a second area, calculates a first amount of heat lost on the basis of the first temperature and first information, calculating a second amount of heat lost on the basis of the second temperature and second information, obtains an area ratio of the first area to the second area, calculates a total amount of heat lost, which is an amount of heat lost from a whole body of a person in a unit area, on the basis of the first amount of heat lost, the second amount of heat lost, and the area ratio, and estimates thermal sensation, which indicates a degree of warmth or coldness of the person, on the basis of the total amount of heat lost.

Methods and systems are provided for heat sanitizing a vehicle. In one example, a method may include, responsive to receiving a request for sanitization of a vehicle interior, operating a heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) system to heat the vehicle interior above an upper threshold temperature for a threshold duration. In this way, the HVAC system may be advantageously used to expose the vehicle interior to temperatures that kill or inactive microbes.

When an air conditioning ECU determines that it is immediately before idling stop, the air conditioning ECU implements a front seat air conditioning mode even if the air conditioning ECU determines that an occupant intensive air-conditioning mode can be implemented. Accordingly, the air conditioning ECU controls opening and closing mechanisms so as to blow a conditioned air from driver's seat side outlet ports, and also blow the conditioned air from a passenger's seat side foot outlet port. Hence, in cooling operation, since a temperature increase of air drawn into an inside air inlet port is limited when the idling stop is carried out, temperature increase of air blown into the vehicle interior from the outlet port can be restricted. In other words, a temperature change in the vehicle interior can be limited when a travel engine stops due to the idling stop.

A system for detecting an occupant in a vehicle includes a proximity sensor installed at a back of a seat and detecting an object. An automotive key locks and unlocks a door. A starter starts and stops an engine of the vehicle. A controller is configured to determine whether the occupant is in the seat based sensor values of the proximity sensor, a door unlock signal from the automotive key, and a starting signal from the starter.

A vehicle microclimate system includes a microclimate device that is configured to be arranged within an interior space that provides a macroclimate environment to an occupant. The microclimate device is configured to provide a microclimate environment to the occupant. The microclimate device is configured to be in close proximity to a region of the occupant having an increased thermoreceptive response compared to other occupant regions exposed to the macroclimate environment. A controller is in communication with the microclimate device. The controller is configured to determine an occupant personal comfort and automatically command the microclimate device in response to the occupant personal comfort to achieve a desired occupant personal comfort.

The present invention provides a windowpane defogging device for a motor vehicle which, upon generation of a fog on a windowpane, comes into a defogging mode to remove the fog generated on the windowpane. The windowpane defogging device includes a relative humidity detecting unit configured to detect a windowpane relative humidity of a driver seat view field region of the windowpane and a windowpane relative humidity of a passenger seat view field region of the windowpane, and a control unit configured to control entry into the defogging mode by determining the generation or non-generation of the fog on the windowpane based on the windowpane relative humidity of the driver seat view field region and the windowpane relative humidity of the passenger seat view field region inputted from the relative humidity detecting unit.