Vehicle Passenger Intent Determination for Seatbelts and Doors

A perception-based monitoring method for determining a passenger's intention to unbuckle a seatbelt and/or to open a door, including: receiving input data including an image of an interior of the vehicle captured by a camera mounted in the vehicle; assigning based on the image, a set of predefined body keypoint positions (BKP) associated with a detected passenger; computing a manipulation score, indicative of an intention of the passenger to unbuckle a seatbelt and/or to open a door, based on the assigned set of predefined BKP in relation with a seatbelt buckle and/or a door handle; determining the passenger's intention in case the manipulation score exceeds a predefined threshold; and if a passenger's intention is determined, adjusting a control function of a safety system of the vehicle; and/or notifying an occupant of the vehicle of the passenger's intention.