Method for locating a user equipment with respect to a motor vehicle

A method for locating a user equipment with respect to a motor vehicle, said vehicle comprising an electronic control unit and a plurality of ultra-wideband communication modules, said user equipment, carried by a user, comprising an inertial measurement unit configured to provide acceleration and orientation data in relation to said user equipment and an ultra-wideband communication module configured to communicate with each of the ultra-wideband communication modules of the vehicle, said method comprising the following steps, carried out iteratively when the user is in motion:

• exchanging ultra-wideband signals between at least one ultra-wideband communication module of the vehicle and the ultra-wideband communication module of the user equipment,
• determining what is referred to as the “inter-object” distance between said at least one ultra-wideband communication module of the vehicle and the user equipment based on the time of flight of the exchanged signals,
• measuring the acceleration and orientation values of the user equipment,
• computing what is referred to as the “inter-step” distance covered by the user between two consecutive steps of the user based on the measured acceleration and orientation values,
• cross-referencing the determined inter-object distance and the computed inter-step distance in order to determine at least one probable location zone of the user equipment,
• the iterations ending when a single probable location zone of the user equipment with a surface area smaller than a predefined surface area has been determined, said single probable location zone then corresponding to the location of the user equipment around the vehicle.