A method for operating an occupant protection device of a vehicle involves triggering an occupant protection mechanism, in the event of an imminent detected collision for the vehicle or of a detected collision of the vehicle. The triggering also depends upon detected image data of at least one interior camera of the vehicle and the triggering can be supressed based on the detected image data of the interior camera.

Disclosed is a seat including: sensors which includes a first cushion sensor provided at a seat cushion in a position corresponding to buttocks of an occupant, a second cushion sensor provided at the seat cushion and located farther frontward than the first cushion sensor, a first back sensor provided at a seat back and located in a lower position thereof, and a second back sensor provided at the seat back and located above the first back sensor; and a controller connected to the sensors and thereby allowed to acquire pressure values from the respective sensors. The controller is configured to identify the motion of the occupant based on outputs of at least two sensors of the first cushion sensor, the second cushion sensor, the first back sensor, and the second back sensor.

A vehicle seating assembly comprises a seat including a back having an array of at least two electrodes arranged in the back such that a master electrode has an electric field being greater than an electric field of each of the other electrodes within the array to detect a total change in capacitance from the array. A controller is responsive to a change in capacitance calculated from the master electrode being greater than a first threshold and each of the other electrodes in the array being greater than a second threshold and outputs occupant movement data indicative of a first status of the seat to a vehicle control sub-system.

A system and related method for monitoring an occupant within a vehicle using a plurality of convolutional neural networks includes a processor, a sensor having a field of view that includes at least a portion of the occupant, and a memory. The memory may include a feature map module, a key point head module, a part affinity field head module, and a seatbelt head module. The modules include instructions that cause the processor to generate a key point heat map indicating a probability that a pixel is a joint of a plurality of joints of the occupant, a part affinity field heat map indicating a pairwise relationship between at least two joints of the plurality of joints of the occupant, and a seatbelt heat map indicating a likelihood that a pixel of the input image is a seatbelt.

A positional-dependent airbag deployment system is provided. A plurality of tether cutters are configured to cut at least one of a plurality of tethers affixed to an airbag. An image sensor is configured to monitor the position of an occupant's head within a vehicle. In response to detecting a collision event, an airbag controller determines a trajectory of the occupant's head based on the image sensor data and other data and determines a cutting sequence of the tethers such the airbag will be deployed in a trajectory to intercept the occupant's head.

A vehicular safety system is provided. The vehicular safety system is adapted to protect children and pets trapped in the vehicle from being exposed to excessive heat. The safety system is coupled to temperature and motion sensors inside the vehicle to sense ambient temperature and motion therein, respectively. If the ambient temperature exceeds a predefined temperature and motion is simultaneously detected, then operatively associated power windows are engaged to create ventilation and operatively associated lighting and alarm systems are enabled for a predetermined time period. The safety system may also enable communication to an associated computing device, such as the smart phone of the vehicle owner and/or the onboard communication system of the vehicle.

A system for notifying an occupant of a vehicle of unauthorized interaction with his or her possessions includes one or more cameras that collect image data of a surrounding environment of the occupant. The surrounding environment of the occupant is an interior cabin of the vehicle. The system also includes one or more controllers in electronic communication with the one or more cameras, the one or more controllers execute instructions to monitor, by the one or more cameras, the image data of the surrounding environment of the occupant. In response to detecting the unauthorized interaction with the one or more possessions associated with the occupant, the one or more controllers generate a notification informing the occupant of the unauthorized interaction.

A computer-implemented method is provided for predicting occupant location based on vehicular collision. The method includes receiving, at a computing system including one or more processors, information indicative of a vehicle crash involving a vehicle occupant. The method also includes receiving, at the computing system, information indicative of a position of the vehicle occupant within the vehicle prior to the vehicle crash. The method also includes determining, by the one or more processors, a probability of ejection of the vehicle occupant according to (i) the information indicative of the vehicle crash and (ii) the position of vehicle occupant. The method also includes providing, by the computing system, the probability of ejection of the vehicle occupant to one or more emergency responders.

The system and method provide for identification of dynamic objects in an enclosed space and the presence of a component in a primary location. The system uses an active electro-optical 3D sensor, such as a three-dimensional time of flight camera, to identify the presence or absence of a reflected pulse, to determine, for example, proper placement of a seat belt, or a change in characteristics of a reflected pulse to determine a change in location, and thus possible movement, of a living creature in a vehicle, for example.

A cargo area door control system for a vehicle is provided. The vehicle includes at least one cargo area and at least one cargo area door configured to be movable to enable physical access to the at least one cargo area, and movable to block physical access to the at least one cargo area. The control system includes one or more processors and a memory communicably coupled to the one or more processors. The memory stores a cargo area door control module including instructions that when executed by the one or more processors cause the one or more processors to determine if the vehicle currently resides at a selected destination and, responsive to a determination that the vehicle currently resides at the selected destination, operate a cargo area door unlocking mechanism to unlock the at least one cargo area door.