Vehicle proactive interaction system for occupant awareness including timing and interaction style selection

An assistance system comprising:

• a perception module configured to collect sensor data including data tracking behavior of a vehicle occupant in a host vehicle, and to determine perception information describing a current situation warranting initiation of an interactive dialog with the vehicle occupant;
• an interactive goal module configured to determine an interactive goal based on the determined perception information;
• an interaction timing module configured to determine timing for initiating the interactive dialog based on the interactive goal;
• a dialog module configured to, based on the perception information and the timing, initiate the interactive dialog to provide at least one of a suggestion and an offer to the vehicle occupant;
• and
• a vehicle control module configured to control operation of at least one of a device and a system of the host vehicle in response to the vehicle occupant accepting the at least one of the suggestion and the offer, wherein the vehicle control module is configured to activate at least one of a defogging system and an air recirculation feature of a heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning system in response to the vehicle occupant accepting the at least one of the suggestion and the offer.

An assistance method comprising:

• collecting sensor data including data tracking behavior of a vehicle occupant in a host vehicle;
• determining perception information describing a current situation warranting initiation of an interactive dialog with the vehicle occupant;
• determining an interactive goal based on the determined perception information;
• determining timing for initiating the interactive dialog based on the interactive goal;
• generating a histogram based on historical data including a plurality of gaps for at least one event trigger;
• selecting at least one of the plurality of gaps based on the histogram;
• based on the perception information, the timing, and the selected at least one of the plurality of gaps, initiating the interactive dialog to provide at least one of a suggestion and an offer to the vehicle occupant;
• and
• controlling operation of at least one of a device and a system of the host vehicle in response to the vehicle occupant accepting the at least one of the suggestion and the offer.