Method for detecting living beings in a passenger compartment, and vehicle

A method for detecting living beings in a passenger compartment of a vehicle, the method comprising:

• a) storing a neural-acoustic fields (NAF) database in a computing unit of the vehicle, wherein the NAF database includes a plurality of NAF of the passenger compartment for different presence scenarios, and wherein the NAF database is created by an initial measurement campaign in a representative passenger compartment by recording, in each case, at least one NAF while varying at least dummy type, number of dummies and dummy sitting position;
• b) recording, by at least two microphones of the vehicle, background noise in the passenger compartment at least when closing at least one door of the vehicle;
• c) comparing, by the computing unit, the recorded background noise with the NAF stored in the NAF database;
• d) determining, by the computing unit, at least one NAF in the NAF database having a highest match with the recorded background noise;
• and
• e) establishing, by the computing unit, presence of living beings in the passenger compartment, corresponding to a respective presence scenario underlying the NAF determined in step d).

A vehicle comprising:

• a passenger compartment;
• at least two microphones;
• and
• a computing unit coupled to the at least two microphones,
• wherein the computing unit of the vehicle stores a neural-acoustic fields (NAF) database including a plurality of NAF of the passenger compartment for different presence scenarios, and wherein the NAF database is created by an initial measurement campaign in a representative passenger compartment by recording, in each case, at least one NAF while varying at least dummy type, number of dummies and dummy sitting position,
• wherein the at least two microphones of the vehicle are configured to record background noise in the passenger compartment at least when closing at least one door of the vehicle,
• wherein the computing unit is configured to compare the recorded background noise with the NAF stored in the NAF database,
• wherein the computing unit is configured to determine at least one NAF in the NAF database having a highest match with the recorded background noise, and
• wherein the computing unit is configured to establish presence of living beings in the passenger compartment (2) corresponding to a respective presence scenario underlying the NAF having the highest match.