Passenger Detection and Counting Inside Vehicles For eCall- a Review on Current Possibilities

In this review, the possibilities of autonomous passenger detection and counting are presented and discussed. Since the main focus is to provide supplementary data for a retrofit eCall system, which is to be relayed to emergency responders, cost-effective solutions are in the main focus, including mechanical seat occupancy, belt status detectors and thermopile or passive IR based optical methods. The use of time of flight (TOF) cameras and gas sensors for passenger counting are also discussed.