Systems and methods for control systems to facilitate situational awareness of a vehicle

A method for automatically locking the doors of a vehicle, the method comprising:

• receiving sensor data from a vehicle-mounted sensor;
• analyzing the sensor data to identify movement of objects in the immediate vicinity exterior to the vehicle while the vehicle is stationary;
• determining, based upon the analyzing, if a movement threshold value for objects exterior to the vehicle has been reached;
• and
• activating an automatic door-locking mechanism when the outcome of the data analysis is over the movement threshold resulting in a computer processor sending one or more signals to activate an actuator to lock a door of the vehicle and disable a switch associated with the door and operatively coupled to the computer processor, wherein the switch is adapted to send a signal to the computer processor to control the actuator to engage or disengage the door lock.