A system may receive head pose indications determined according to movement data from a motion sensor of an optical head-mounted display worn by a vehicle driver, determine, according to the head pose indications, driver activity characteristics indicative of a history of movement of the head of the driver, and send the driver activity characteristics to a driver-aware vehicle system configured to adjust driver notification based on the driver activity characteristics. The system may also receive raw movement data from a motion sensor of an optical head-mounted display worn on a head of a vehicle driver, compute head velocity data based on the raw movement data, compute head displacement data based on the head velocity data, and update head pose indications indicative of head positioning upon determining that the head displacement data exceeds a predetermined threshold displacement.

The invention relates to methods and a system for operating electrical drive units of seat components in a motor vehicle, preferably in the case of a detected pre-crash situation, wherein an optimum target position of a passenger for an imminent crash case is moved to (S1, S2) depending on a current position of the passenger, wherein, for this purpose, a rule strategy for coordinating the adjustment of the seat components is determined (S3) in order to actuate at least two of the drive units at the same time or directly in succession such that the required power of the drive units is minimized (S4).

In various examples, systems and methods are disclosed that accurately identify driver and passenger in-cabin activities that may indicate a biomechanical distraction that prevents a driver from being fully engaged in driving a vehicle. In particular, image data representative of an image of an occupant of a vehicle may be applied to one or more deep neural networks (DNNs). Using the DNNs, data indicative of key point locations corresponding to the occupant may be computed, a shape and/or a volume corresponding to the occupant may be reconstructed, a position and size of the occupant may be estimated, hand gesture activities may be classified, and/or body postures or poses may be classified. These determinations may be used to determine operations or settings for the vehicle to increase not only the safety of the occupants, but also of surrounding motorists, bicyclists, and pedestrians.

An occupant modeling device includes: an acquisition section acquiring an image by imaging a region where there is a probability that a face of an occupant is present; a model fitting section generating a model of the face based on a first image acquired by the acquisition section; a tracking section adapting the model to a second image acquired after the first image; a determination section determining correctness of a facial part position included in the second image to which the model is adapted, by using learned information obtained through learning based on correct information and incorrect information regarding the facial part position; and a processing section determining whether a process in the tracking section is to be continuously executed or a process in the model fitting section is to be executed again according to a determination result in the determination section.

A vehicle steering wheel includes a hoop, a plurality of presence sensors and an outer sheath. The presence sensors are each arranged so as to detect a proximity and/or contact between a user's limb and the hoop. The outer sheath covers the plurality of presence sensors and is stitched with at least one seam that extends around at least part of the hoop. The plurality of presence sensors is mounted on the same support.

The present disclosure is directed to apparatuses, systems and methods for automatically classifying digital images of occupants inside a vehicle. More particularly, the present disclosure is directed to apparatuses, systems and methods for automatically classifying digital images of occupants inside a vehicle by comparing current image data to previously classified image data.

An apparatus, system, and method for helping to protect occupants of a vehicle in the event of a collision. The apparatus comprising an inflatable tube having a first and second end connected to the floor of the vehicle and a middle portion therebetween and an inflator that is actuatable to direct inflation fluid into the inflatable tube in response to a vehicle collision. The inflatable tube is configured to inflate and deploy from the vehicle floor in response to receiving inflation fluid from the inflator. The middle portion extends from the floor and forms an arch into which the lower legs and/or feet of the occupant can move into in response to a collision and be restrained.

A driver monitoring device includes a detector that detects a posture of a driver in a driver's seat of a vehicle based on an image captured by an image capturing device, a determination controller that determines whether an irregular posture can impede the vehicle from traveling safely based on a condition concerning traveling of the vehicle acquired from the vehicle and the posture of the driver detected by the detector, and one or more notifiers that provide a notification concerning the irregular posture in accordance with a result of a determination made by the determination controller. The one or more notifiers refrain from providing the notification concerning the irregular posture when the result of the determination indicates that the irregular posture does not impede the vehicle from traveling safely.

The present disclosure is directed to apparatuses, systems and methods for automatically classifying images of occupants inside a vehicle. More particularly, the present disclosure is directed to apparatuses, systems and methods for automatically classifying images of occupants inside a vehicle by comparing current image feature data to previously classified image features.

A computer-implemented method for moving an occupant of a vehicle seat to open airway position after a vehicle crash event. The vehicle seat having a seat cushion, a backrest and a headrest. The method includes detecting occurrence of a vehicle crash event, and moving at least a portion of the backrest and/or headrest backwards and pulling an occupant of the vehicle seat backwards towards the backrest by powered retraction of a seat belt of the occupant by means of a seat belt retractor.