Automatic power door opening on sustained presence

A vehicle power door system, comprising:

• a plurality of power operated doors;
• and
• a controller configured to initiate an automated power-operated door opening sequence of at least one of the plurality of power operated doors when an authorized individual is detected in an activation zone of the vehicle, the authorized individual has remained in the activation zone for a predetermined period of time, and a predefined gesture pattern has been received from the authorized individual,
• wherein the automated power-operated door opening sequence includes opening one or more power operated doors of the plurality of power operated doors that are indicated by the predefined gesture pattern.

A method, comprising:

• detecting whether an authorized individual is located in an activation zone of a vehicle equipped with a power door system;
• determining whether the authorized individual has remained in the activation zone for a predetermined period of time;
• and
• initiating an automated power-operated door opening sequence of the power door system when the authorized individual is located in the activation zone and has remained in the activation zone for the predetermined period of time,
• wherein the automated power-operated door opening sequence includes at least one of opening only a power-operated door of the power door system that is located nearest to the authorized individual or opening each power-operated door of the power door system that is located on a side of the vehicle nearest to the authorized individual.