Passenger-less and driver-less vehicle operating modes

A vehicle interior structure arrangement modification device for use in a vehicle, comprising:

• a processor configured to be communicatively coupled to an actuator configured to reconfigure a vehicle internal structure, wherein the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to:
• determine whether to initiate a configuration change protocol to implement a configuration change for reconfiguring the vehicle internal structure in response to a planned or predicted future operating mode, event or environment;
• determine whether an occupancy status of the vehicle conflicts with an occupancy status allowed for in a configuration called for by a configuration change input or indication;
• and
• modify an arrangement of the vehicle internal structure in accordance with the configuration change input or indication in response to determining that the occupancy status of the vehicle does not conflict with the occupancy status allowed for in the configuration called for by the configuration change.

A vehicle, comprising:

• actuators configured to change to reconfigure a vehicle internal structure;
• and
• a processor coupled to the actuators and configured with processor-executable instructions to:
• determine whether to initiate a configuration change protocol to implement a configuration change for reconfiguring the vehicle internal structure in response to a planned or predicted future operating mode, event or environment;
• determine whether an occupancy status of the vehicle conflicts with an occupancy status allowed for in a configuration called for by a configuration change input or indication;
• and
• control the actuators to modify an arrangement of the vehicle internal structure in accordance with the configuration change input or indication in response to determining that the occupancy status of the vehicle does not conflict with the occupancy status allowed for in the configuration called for by the configuration change.

A non-transitory processor-readable storage medium having stored thereon processor-executable instructions configured to cause a processor of a vehicle to perform operations comprising:

• determining whether to initiate a configuration change protocol to implement a configuration change for modifying an arrangement of a vehicle internal structure in response to a planned or predicted future operating mode, event or environment;
• determining whether an occupancy status of the vehicle conflicts with an occupancy status allowed for in a configuration called for by a configuration change input or indication;
• and
• modifying an arrangement of the vehicle internal structure in accordance with the configuration change input or indication in response to determining that the occupancy status of the vehicle does not conflict with the occupancy status allowed for in the configuration called for by the configuration change.