Vehicle access system and methods for providing zone-determination based features therewith

A method of operating a vehicle access system of a vehicle, the vehicle access system including a plurality of system nodes installed throughout a vehicle, each system node in the plurality of system nodes including a radio transceiver configured to wirelessly communicate with a target portable device, the method comprising:

• determining, with a processor of the vehicle access system, a location of the target portable device with respect to the vehicle by operating the radio transceivers of the plurality of system nodes to perform a ranging process with the target portable device;
• determining, with the processor, whether the target portable device is located within a predefined zone within the vehicle based on the determined location of the target portable device, the predefined zone corresponding to a location of a driver seat within the vehicle;
• receiving, with the processor, a message from the target portable device including an identifier of the target portable device, the identifier being a value that identifies the target portable device;
• and
• setting, with the processor, an operating mode of a transmission of the vehicle in response to the target portable device being located within the predefined zone and in accordance with a predetermined operating mode for the transmission associated with the identifier of the target portable device, setting the operating mode including at least one of (i) setting a gearing mode of the transmission or (ii) setting a performance mode of the transmission.