Vehicular component control systems and methods

A method for controlling operation of a vehicle based on recognition of a person as one of a set of authorized individuals, comprising the steps of:

• obtaining images including the authorized individuals by means of at least one optical receiving unit;
• deriving data from the images;
• training a pattern recognition algorithm on the data derived from the images which is capable of identifying a person as one of the individuals;
• then
• subsequently obtaining images by means of the at least one optical receiving unit;
• inputting data derived from the images subsequently obtained by the at least one optical receiving unit into the pattern recognition algorithm to obtain an indication whether the person is one of the set of authorized individuals;
• and
• providing a security system which enables operation of the vehicle when the pattern recognition algorithm provides an indication that the person is one of the set of individuals authorized to operate the vehicle and prevents operation of the vehicle when the pattern recognition algorithm does not provide an indication that the person is one of the set of individuals authorized to operate the vehicle.

A vehicle including a system for controlling a component based on recognition of an individual, comprising:

• a processor embodying a pattern recognition algorithm trained to identify whether a person is the individual by analyzing data derived from images;
• at least one optical receiving unit arranged to receive an optical image of the person and derive data from the image, said at least one optical receiving unit being coupled to said processor to provide the data derived from the image to the pattern recognition algorithm to thereby obtain an indication from the pattern recognition algorithm as to whether the person is the individual;
• and
• control means coupled to the component for affecting the component based on the indication from the pattern recognition algorithm whether the person is the individual.

A method for controlling a vehicular component based on recognition of a person as one of a predetermined set of particular individuals, comprising the steps of:

• obtaining images including the individuals by means of at least one optical receiving unit;
• deriving data from the images, training a pattern recognition algorithm on the data derived from the images which is capable of identifying a person as one of the individuals;
• then
• subsequently obtaining images by means of the at least one optical receiving unit;
• inputting data derived from the images subsequently obtained by the at least one optical receiving unit into the panel recognition algorithm to obtain an indication as to whether the person is one of the set of individuals;
• and
• affecting the component based on the indication from the pattern recognition algorithm whether the person is one of the set of individuals.