In-vehicle telematics systems and devices

Abstract

Described are various embodiments of a vehicle telematics device and vehicle, and associated method, comprising a positioning system for the vehicle; a communication interface, coupled to a wireless network connection, and configured to receive, in real-time, object positioning information for one or more objects outside the vehicle from one or more external data sources; and a processor operably coupled to the positioning system, the memory, and the wireless communication interface, the processor capable of executing the instructions stored in the memory that, when executed, configure the vehicle telematics device to determine a proximity between the vehicle and the one or more objects outside the vehicle using the real-time positioning information for the vehicle and the real-time positioning information for the one or more objects.

Description

IN-VEHICLE TELEMATICS SYSTEMS AND DEVICESFIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

[0001] The present disclosure relates to vehicle telematics, and, in particular, to in- vehicle telematics systems, devices and methods.BACKGROUND

[0002] Existing telematics devices typically comprise one or more cameras or sensors associated with vehicles that capture information relating to the vehicle or its environment. For example, an in-vehicle telematics device, may capture a forward-facing view from a dash or interior view of the vehicle and / or comprise additional non-camera sensors, but all telematics information is limited to such information collected by the device. Further in- vehicle monitoring, if part of the internal vehicle telematics or control systems, which may monitor or log telematics and / or other vehicle data, are likewise limited to information acquired from cameras and sensors onboard the vehicle.

[0003] Accordingly, such devices are of limited help for detecting or monitoring objects outside of the vehicle that are beyond line-of-sight or are not yet in a field-of-view, as well as have limited accuracy. Furthermore, to the extent that such prior devices provide indications relating to objects that are or may be in the vicinity of the vehicle (or otherwise impact the vehicle), most cars have multiple alerts and alarms making it difficult to raise awareness of certain circumstances relating to the outside environment. Additionally or alternatively, in-vehicle telematics devices may use other techniques for connecting the in- vehicle telematics device to a computing device in order to acquire or transfer relevant data.

[0004] This background information is provided to reveal information believed by the applicant to be of possible relevance. No admission is necessarily intended, nor should be construed, that any of the preceding information constitutes prior art or forms part of the general common knowledge in the relevant art.SUMMARY

[0005] The following presents a simplified summary of the general inventive concept(s) described herein to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the disclosure. This summary is not an extensive overview of the disclosure. It is not intended to restrict key or critical elements of embodiments of the disclosure or to delineate their scope beyond that which is explicitly or implicitly described by the following description and claims.

[0006] A need exists for in-vehicle telematics systems and devices that overcome some of the drawbacks of known techniques, or at least, provides a useful alternative thereto. Some aspects of this disclosure provide examples of such telematics devices.

[0007] There is provided in some embodiments a telematics device that leverages communication with external data sources, such as available over vehicle-to-everything (V2X) services (or other vehicle or inter-vehicle communications protocols) from external objects, such as other vehicles, traffic cameras, and third-party data sources, and optionally from external data sources in the form of short-range wireless beacons (e.g., BLE-enabled devices on a roadway construction site), to provide information relating to other objects that may impact operator safety and the safety of all other road users, act as a hub and gateway for connected operator monitoring and safety technologies, collect road network data (video, sensor and location) as an input to artificial intelligence (Al) processes for extracting and inferring valuable information from the collected information, and be capable of sharing the foregoing information over V2X services (or other vehicle or intervehicle communications protocols).

[0008] In accordance with one aspect, there is provided a vehicle telematics device for use in within a cabin of a vehicle comprising: a positioning system configured to provide, in real-time, vehicle positioning information for the vehicle; a wireless communication interface, coupled to a wireless network connection, and configured to receive, in real-time, object positioning information for one or more objects outside the vehicle from one or more external data sources; a memory for storing data and instructions; and a processor operably coupled to the positioning system, the memory, and the wireless communication interface,the processor configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory to configure the vehicle telematics device to: determine a proximity between the vehicle and the one or more objects outside the vehicle, in real-time, using the vehicle positioning information and the obj ect positioning information for the one or more obj ects; and output the proximity between the vehicle and the one or more objects outside the vehicle to an operator of the vehicle.

[0009] In accordance with another aspect, there is provided a vehicle comprising a vehicle telematics device comprising: a positioning system configured to provide, in realtime, vehicle positioning information for the vehicle; a wireless communication interface, coupled to a wireless network connection, and configured to receive, in real-time, object positioning information for one or more objects outside the vehicle from one or more external data sources; a memory for storing data and instructions; and a processor operably coupled to the positioning system, the memory, and the wireless communication interface, the processor configured to the instructions stored in the memory to configure the vehicle telematics device to determine a proximity between the vehicle and the one or more objects outside the vehicle, in real-time, using the vehicle positioning information and the object positioning information for the one or more objects; and output the proximity between the vehicle and the one or more objects outside the vehicle to an operator of the vehicle.

[0010] In accordance with another aspect, there is provided a method of determining proximities (in real time) between a vehicle and one or more objects outside the vehicle, in real-time, the method comprising the steps of: sensing a vehicle positioning information for the vehicle using a vehicle positioning system; receiving object positioning information in real time for one or more objects outside the vehicle from one or more external data sources via a wireless communication interface coupled to a wireless network connection; determining a proximity between the vehicle and the one or more objects outside the vehicle in real-time based on the vehicle positioning information and the object positioning information for the one or more objects; and outputting the proximity between the vehicle and the one or more objects outside the vehicle to an operator of the vehicle via a user- perceptible interface.

[0011] In accordance with another aspect, there is provided a system for determining proximities in real time between a vehicle and one or more objects outside the vehicle. In one embodiment, the system is configured to perform the method as described in accordance with one embodiment thereof. In another embodiment, the system comprises a device in accordance with one embodiment thereof described and is configured to perform the method as described in accordance with one embodiment thereof.

[0012] In accordance with yet another aspect, there is provided a system comprising: a plurality of vehicle telematics devices, wherein each device being as herein described; and a remote central processing system configured to wirelessly receive data from the plurality of vehicle telematics devices in real-time; wherein such received data is aggregated and analyzed to generate a predictive situational awareness model.

[0013] In some aspects, the positioning system comprises one or more of a satellitebased positioning system. In some aspects, the positioning system comprises a satellitebased positioning system comprising GNSS. In some aspects, GNSS utilizes one or more of GPS, BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS), Galileo, Glonass, Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), Quasi-Zenith. In some aspects, the positioning system comprises real-time kinematics (RTK) in association with existing third-party infrastructure. In some aspects, the positioning system comprises one or more inertial measurement units (IMUs) in data communication with the processor, wherein the IMU collects vehicle inertial data and / or the memory stores vehicular inertial data. In some aspects, the one or more IMUs comprise at least one of the following: an accelerometer, a gyroscope, and a magnetometer. In some aspects, the vehicle positioning information is determined, at least in part, using vehicular inertial data from the positioning system.

[0014] In some aspects, the device further comprises one or more exterior-facing cameras in data communication with the processor. In some aspects, the positioning system uses data from the one more exterior facing camera to, at least in part, generate at least one of the vehicle positioning information and the object positioning information. In some aspects, the device further comprises a communication interface for coupling the vehicle telematics device to a vehicle's telematics data source (ECU) to access ECU vehicletelematics. In some aspects, the positioning system uses ECU vehicle telematics to, at least in part, generate at least one of the vehicle positioning information and the object positioning information.

[0015] In some aspects, the processor is configured to detect a loss or degradation of one or more vehicle positioning signals, and in response thereto, the processor is configured to initiate a positioning fallback mode using any one or both of dead reckoning and inertial measurement unit (IMU) data. In some aspects, the processor is configured to detect GNSS radio interference based at least in part on inconsistencies between IMU-derived vehicular inertial data and GNSS-derived positioning data. In some aspects, the GNSS radio interference comprises any one or both of GNSS spoofing and GNSS jamming. In some aspects, the processor is configured to perform sensor fusion using a Kalman filter to integrate data from the positioning system for real-time positioning accuracy.

[0016] In some aspects, the processor implements an artificial intelligence (Al)-based analysis to assist the positioning system in generating at least one of the vehicle positioning information and the object positioning information.

[0017] In some aspects, the wireless communication interface is further configured to share at least one of the vehicle positioning information and the object positioning information with one or more external data sources. In some aspects, at least one of the vehicle positioning information and the object positioning information is communicated via the wireless communication interface using a Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) communications protocol.

[0018] In some aspects, the wireless communication interface comprises a short-range wireless communication module which is configured to establish wireless connections with the one or more external data sources using a short-range communication protocol. In some aspects, the one or more external data sources comprise one or more short-range wireless- enabled devices associated with the one or more objects external to the vehicle. In some aspects, the short-range communication protocol comprises a Bluetooth® Low Energy (BLE) protocol and wherein the one or more short-range wireless-enabled devices comprise Bluetooth® Low Energy (BLE) enabled devices. In some aspects, data packetsreceived by the device via the short-range wireless communication module are wirelessly transmitted over a long-range communication interface to a remote, cloud-based server. In some aspects, data packets received in respect of a particular object is stored on the remote, cloud-based server in linkable association with other data from the device which is associated with the particular object based at least in part on the object positioning information.

[0019] In some aspects, the processor is configured to selectively generate an alarm signal associated based on the proximity between the vehicle and any of the one or more objects. In some aspects, the alarm signal is configured to cause an alarm detectable inside the vehicle.

[0020] In some aspects, there is provided a display screen for viewing by the operator of the vehicle. In some aspects, the display screen is configured to display any one or more of a visual representation of the alarm, a visual representation of the vehicle positioning information, a visual representation of the object positioning information, and proximity information relating to the vehicle and any of the one or more objects. In some aspects, the device and / or vehicle comprises access to a speaker system for generating sounds audible by the operator of the vehicle. In some aspects, the processor and / or speaker system is configured to generate an audible alarm in response to the alarm signal. In some aspects, the processor is configured to cause, via a speaker system, a perception of a sound originating from a selectable location, and the selectable location is associated with the object positioning information.

[0021] In some aspects, there is provided an interior-facing camera in data communication with the processor. In some aspects, the interior-facing camera is configured to analyze operator characteristics to determine a zone of focus of the operator. In some aspects, any alarm signal that is associated with an object that is within the zone of focus of the operator is suppressed. In some aspects, analyzing of the operator characteristics utilizes an Al-based model. Some aspects of the device further comprise a biometric sensor arranged to capture biometric data associated with the operator, and the processor is configured to analyze the biometric data to assess operator stress or fatiguelevels (and optionally selectively triggering alerts based on one or more thresholds derived from biometric data trends.).

[0022] In some aspects, there is provided in the vehicle telematics device an internal power source that does not require power from a vehicle power source. In some aspects, the processor is configured to identify an object-related characteristic for at least one object of the one or more objects outside the vehicle, the object-related characteristic comprising at least one of an object type and an object status of the corresponding object. In some aspects, the processor uses an Al-based model trained using a machine learning (ML) training set, to identify the object-related characteristic. In some aspects, the object-related characteristic may relate to one or more of the following: cycle, pedestrian, automotive vehicle, electrically-powered vehicle, lane marker, pole, sign, traffic signal, traffic cone, sidewalk, emergency vehicle, police vehicle, ambulance, fire services vehicle, road hazard, accident, blockage, potential accident, traffic congestion, bicycles, quad-bike, tri-bike, moped, motorcycle, e-bike, cyclist, scooter, environmental hazard, pot hole, flooding, snow, fallen debris, animal, construction marker, railway, wheelchair, disability and mobility aids, construction sites, construction equipment, construction worker, roadworks sites, roadworks equipment, roadworks signage, traffic signage, and bike lanes. In some aspects, the existence of the object-related characteristic is indicated to the operator. In some aspects, the existence of the object-related characteristic is assessed by a dynamic situational awareness model, in conjunction with any one or combination of: operator state, environmental conditions, object proximity, other object existence, other object proximity, and vehicle operation data, to determine one or both of relevance and priority of the object- related characteristic prior to indicating the existence thereof to the operator. In some aspects, the Al-based model assigns to the object-related characteristic identified object classification data; and wherein the processor is configured to contribute the object classification data, without raw image data, to a federated learning system of the Al-based model, via the wireless communication interface.

[0023] In some aspects, a traffic-signal pre-emption signals are transmitted to one or more traffic signals, and the communication interface receives an indication of transmitted traffic-signal pre-emption signals. Some aspects may be configured to receive aconfirmation of traffic-signal pre-emption from said one or more traffic signals. In some aspects, the absence of objects in an intersection associated with the traffic signal preemption signal is communicated to the operator via the vehicle telematics device.

[0024] In some aspects, the device comprises a peripheral connector port for connection of a peripheral device, wherein the peripheral connector port optionally receives a port expander hub to allow connection of two or more peripheral devices to the device. In some aspects, the port expander hub is operable under control of the processor to selectively enable or disable any one of both of power delivery and data communication associated with each downstream port.

[0025] In some aspects, the processor is configured to retrieve and process third-party data from a third-party data source, the third-party data comprising at least mapping data associated with traffic enforcement zones, to generate an alert to the operator via the vehicle telematics device when the vehicle is approaching a known enforcement zone.

[0026] In some aspects, the processor is configured to wirelessly interface with a regional infrastructure management system or a regional traffic management system for bidirectional communication of traffic-related information.

[0027] In some aspects, the device comprises an adaptive power management module configured for selectively managing power supply to any one or combination of deviceintegrated components, in-vehicle components and peripheral components, based on any one or combination of vehicle state, sensor activity and user-defined priorities.

[0028] In some aspects, the predictive situational awareness model outputs at least traffic alerts and hazard alerts based on the received data. In some aspects, the predictive situational awareness model outputs one or more available routes or one or more protective prompts based on the received data.

[0029] Notably, parts, features and / or functionality of one aspect of the disclosure may form part of another aspect of the disclosure, and vice versa, without limitation. Other aspects, features and / or advantages will become more apparent upon reading of thefollowing non-restrictive description of specific embodiments thereof, given by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

[0030] Several embodiments of the present disclosure will be provided, by way of examples only, with reference to the appended drawings, wherein:

[0031] Figure 1 shows a vehicle telematics device and system in accordance with embodiments described herein;

[0032] Figure 2 is a high-level depiction of functional blocks of a vehicle telematics device in accordance with embodiments described herein; and

[0033] Figure 3, comprised of Figure 3.1 and Figure 3.2, shows components of a vehicle telematics device in accordance with embodiments described herein.

[0034] Elements in the several figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be emphasized relative to other elements for facilitating understanding of the various presently disclosed embodiments. Also, common, but well-understood elements that are useful or necessary in commercially feasible embodiments are often not depicted in order to facilitate a less obstructed view of these various embodiments of the present disclosure.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0035] Various implementations and aspects of the specification will be described with reference to details discussed below. The following description and drawings are illustrative of the specification and are not to be construed as limiting the specification. Numerous specific details are described to provide a thorough understanding of various implementations of the present specification. However, in certain instances, well-known or conventional details are not described in order to provide a concise discussion of implementations of the present specification.

[0036] Various apparatuses and processes will be described below to provide examples of implementations of the system disclosed herein. No implementation described below limits any claimed implementation and any claimed implementations may cover processes or apparatuses that differ from those described below. The claimed implementations are not limited to apparatuses or processes having all of the features of any one apparatus or process described below or to features common to multiple or all of the apparatuses or processes described below. It is possible that an apparatus or process described below is not an implementation of any claimed subject matter.

[0037] Furthermore, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the implementations described herein. However, it will be understood by those skilled in the relevant arts that the implementations described herein may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known methods, procedures and components have not been described in detail so as not to obscure the implementations described herein.

[0038] In this specification, elements may be described as “configured to” perform one or more functions or “configured for” such functions. In general, an element that is configured to perform or configured for performing a function is enabled to perform the function, or is suitable for performing the function, or is adapted to perform the function, or is operable to perform the function, or is otherwise capable of performing the function.

[0039] It is understood that for the purpose of this specification, language of “at least one of X, Y, and Z” and “one or more of X, Y and Z” may be construed as X only, Y only, Z only, or any combination of two or more items X, Y, and Z (e.g., XYZ, XY, YZ, ZZ, and the like). Similar logic may be applied for two or more items in any occurrence of “at least one ...” and “one or more...” language.

[0040] Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs.

[0041] Throughout the specification and claims, the following terms take the meanings explicitly associated herein, unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. The phrase “in one of the embodiments” or “in at least one of the various embodiments” as used herein does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment, though it may. Furthermore, the phrase “in another embodiment” or “in some embodiments” as used herein does not necessarily refer to a different embodiment, although it may. Thus, as described below, various embodiments may be readily combined, without departing from the scope or spirit of the innovations disclosed herein.

[0042] In addition, as used herein, the term “or” is an inclusive “or” operator, and is equivalent to the term “and / or,” unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. The term “based on” is not exclusive and allows for being based on additional factors not described, unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. In addition, throughout the specification, the meaning of "a," "an," and "the" include plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. The meaning of "in" includes "in" and "on."

[0043] The term “comprising” as used herein will be understood to mean that the list following is non-exhaustive and may or may not include any other additional suitable items, for example one or more further feature(s), component(s) and / or element(s) as appropriate.

[0044] As used herein, unless context dictates otherwise, the term “external object” or “object” is generally used to refer to other objects that are external to the vehicle. They may include any object or set of objects that are in proximity with, or, depending the position and positional changes thereof, may be expected to be in proximity, with the vehicle with which the vehicle telematics device is associated. They may include other vehicles (including emergency vehicles), pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists, pets and other animals, traffic signals and signs, poles, infrastructure, road dividers and traffic cones, garbage cans, road lines, sidewalks, buildings, or any other physical object that may be accessible, visible, or associated with the vehicle or its route. In some cases, it may refer to a group or combination of any of the foregoing. In some cases, it may refer to a traffic incident, road blockage, road safety incident, a traffic accident, emergency situation, trafficsignaling equipment, or other event that an operator would want or need to know about while operating their vehicle. Accordingly, in some embodiments, the term “external object” or “object” refers to any external objects, structures, events or the like, which provide an operator with situational awareness.

[0045] As used herein, reference to artificial intelligence (Al) algorithms includes reference to processing captured data (e.g., video and / or sensor data) either locally using embedded Al algorithms or pre-developed Al models, or remotely using cloud-based Al algorithms or models, for example, and as the context may indicate. Furthermore, reference to Al algorithms in this specification is intended broadly, to include, for example, using trained machine learning (ML) models, object recognition frameworks, rule-based classification, or the like, without limitation and as the context will indicate.

[0046] The term “processor” is used herein in a general sense and may refer, for example, to one or more processors forming part of the in-vehicle telematics device, one or more processors remote from the in-vehicle telematics device, or both, without limitation. Indeed, it is to be appreciated that varying levels of processing capabilities may be provided by different embodiments of the in-vehicle telematics device disclosed, and that sharing processing load with a remote processor(s) may be useful in some embodiments. Furthermore, to the extent that one or more processors are described as being “configured” for functionality, such description is intended to include that said processors are programmed for or otherwise have access to instructions which when executed perform such functionality, without limitation.

[0047] The present disclosure relates, generally, to a vehicle monitoring and telematics device, system and / or method that incorporates onboard video capture, wireless communication (both short range and long range, in different embodiments), real-time analytics, and remote access capabilities, amongst other features and functionality disclosed, to enhance vehicle safety, operational efficiency, data-driven decision making, and situational awareness for the vehicle operator.

[0048] The systems and methods described herein provide, in accordance with different embodiments, different examples of telematics devices and related systems.Embodiments hereof comprise a vehicle telematics device for a vehicle comprising one or more components or functionalities directed to assessing positional information relating to the vehicle and, in some embodiments, objects that are capable of being sensed by the vehicle, one or more output components or functionalities directed to providing information, such as alerts or alarms, to an operator of the vehicle, and components and functionalities directed to enable communication with a variety of external data sources from which the vehicle telematics device can acquire positional (and other) information relating to any objects in the vehicle’s environs. In some embodiments, the vehicle telematics device is configured to monitor characteristics of the operator to provide timely and effective information that may increase safety, security, or efficiency, as well as to reduce stress on operators. Developments in communications technology, as well as the ubiquity of sensing by network connected devices (e.g. traffic monitoring devices and cameras, connected traffic signals, connected vehicles, traffic and vehicle related loT devices, etc.) provides opportunities to leverage available external information regarding objects and events in a vehicle’s surroundings in real time with a high degree of accuracy. Positional data regarding objects, as well as the vehicle, is acquired from any, and typically multiple, relevant external sources, including but not limited to other vehicles and traffic monitoring devices. This information is used, in connection with any vehicle positioning information acquired by the vehicle telematics device, to assess, inter alia, proximity between the vehicle and any objects in the surroundings. The vehicle telematics device may supplement the positional information acquired from the external sources with positional information acquired from sensors associated with the vehicle telematics device (or vehicle). In embodiments, the positional information is used to assess, in real time, the proximity between the vehicle and surrounding objects. Based on such proximities and, in some embodiments, additional information relating to the operator, the nature of the objects or surrounding events, the vehicle telematics device is configured to interact with the operator to provide information in an appropriate manner to the operator.

[0049] In some embodiments, sensor fusion is employed to improve the accuracy of positional and / or proximity determinations. Sensor fusion may refer to the use of data or results from different sensors, through integration, combination, or integrity-checking of multiple data sets, for example, to assess, improve, speed up, or deduce positional and / orproximity determinations. Some embodiments, therefore, provide an in-vehicle telematics device and / or system which provides an operator with situational awareness, allowing both perception and comprehension of the environment or situation, as well as forecasting and prediction in certain embodiments. Yet further, some embodiments are configured for integration with fleet management platforms, whereby a plurality of in-vehicle telematics devices are installed in a fleet of vehicles, to provide fleet management capabilities.

[0050] Some embodiments hereof include self-installable, aftermarket devices, intended for installation inside a vehicle in view of the operator. In some embodiments, the vehicle telematics devices may be integral with the vehicle. In some embodiments, there is provided some or all of the following componentry: an LCD display for conveying relevant information to the operator; a CANBus support for collecting telematics data directly from a vehicle’s electronic control unit (ECU); external and internal facing cameras; an internal processor for data processing functionalities (which may in some embodiments include the ability to execute Al-based models that use training sets made up of, inter alia, pre-existing or acquired vehicle and other data); a highly accurate location information system configured to use a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) (e.g. GPS (North America), BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) (China), Galileo (China), Glonass (Russia), Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) (India), Quasi -Zenith (Japan, East Asia, and Oceania) optionally in association with Real-Time Kinematics (RTK) system and inertial or other positional reckoning analysis; road-facing and interior-facing cameras (optionally high resolution video devices 4k or better resolution); and other sensing devices. In addition, the vehicle telematics device comprises a communications bus configured to permit communication with other vehicles, traffic cameras, traffic signals comprising communications functions, connected traffic monitoring devices, or other data sources configured to communicate or be accessible over a network. The communications bus may be configured for wired and wireless communication (e.g. universal serial bus such as USB-C, cellular, Wi-Fi™, Bluetooth™). In some embodiments, the device is provided with both short-range communication modules and long-range communication modules. For example, short-range communication may be employed for proximate object detection (optionally to alert an operator in real time) and long-range communication may be employed for relaying such detections to a remote server or cloud-based platform forprocessing and storage (and optionally, remote user access), as will become apparent from the instant disclosure. Typically, long-range communication is provided over a wireless network, however, and provides for bidirectional data transmission such that data and insights determined remotely can be shared back to the in-vehicle telematics device, for example. The in-vehicle telematics device, in general, therefore provides real-time access to highly accurate positional information regarding the vehicle, the operator thereof, and to surrounding objects.

[0051] Although other vehicular communications protocols may be used, typically of a short-range nature, embodiments hereof comprise a communications bus utilizing or being configured to operate in accordance with a V2X communications protocol. Vehicle- to-everything (V2X) refers to a communication protocol between a vehicle and any entity that may affect, or may be affected by, the vehicle. It is a vehicular communication system that may incorporate protocols configured for some or all of V2I (vehicle-to-infrastructure), V2N (vehicle-to-network), V2V (vehicle-to-vehicle), V2P (vehicle-to-pedestrian), V2D (vehicle-to-device) communications. V2X communication protocols may be associated with dedicated short-range communications, WLAN-based communications and / or cellular-based communications (C-V2X); two exemplary, but different communications protocols which may be used, as well as other communications known to persons skilled in the art: 802.1 Ip (DSRC) and (3GPP (C-V2X). In some embodiments, telematics devices use SAE 2735 as a V2X communications protocol, although other as vehicle-to- everything / -vehicle / -device communications protocols known to persons skilled in the art may be used. In some embodiments, there is provided direct communication between vehicle and other vehicles or devices (V2V, V2I); for example, a vehicle using an interface configured for V2X communication can communicate directly with another vehicle or other connected device that is similarly configured directly over a direct channel, or alternatively, indirectly over a communications network using existing telecommunications infrastructure. In some embodiments, therefore, the communication with telecommunications infrastructure, e.g. a base station, is not required but it is available.

[0052] In some embodiments, there is provided a telematics device that comprises a screen to convey safety messages and alerts to the operator based on the presence of objects, object status, or other circumstances (which may or may not be transient) as determined using positional data for objects external to the vehicle (and in some cases, the vehicle) as acquired from non-vehicle (or third-party) data sources, thereby to convey accurate, real-time situational awareness and appropriate warnings, to the operator. In some embodiments, the vehicle telematics devices disclosed herein may supplement the positional information communicated to it from external data sources using, for example, the device’s own positioning data as determined using its own components (e.g. GNSS data, optionally in connection with RTK -based capabilities and / or inertial correction (i.e. “dead reckoning”)). Highly-accurate positional data relating to the vehicle and surrounding objects, in some cases, thus providing “lane level” accuracy or better, can be leveraged by the vehicle telematics device.

[0053] In some embodiments, there is provided a telematics device supporting additional connected services, such as traffic signal pre-emption (and related communication services), crash detection services, theft detection, or operator / workplace monitoring, as well as automatic communications of the foregoing to a centralized server and / or a user-specified contact.

[0054] In some embodiments, there is provided a telematics device comprising auxiliary speakers and / or being configured to connect, wirelessly or using a wired connection, to auxiliary speakers and / or the vehicle’s sound system. In embodiments, the speaker system is configured to provide alerts or alarms of objects in proximity with the vehicle. In some such embodiments, the processor is configured to utilize 3d spatial sound alerts and notifications that are specifically associated with a real-time position of an object. For example, a bicycle passing by a vehicle from behind on the passenger side of the vehicle, as initially identified by the vehicle telematics device from the received object positional information from one or more external devices (e.g. other vehicles, traffic cameras, other cellular devices configured to detect traffic information, V2X-enable road infrastructure monitoring devices) and possibly subsequently identified by or supplemented by the sensory capabilities of the vehicle telematics device itself. Theprocessor may be configured to cause the speaker system to create a perception of an alert or alarm coming from the location of the approaching bicycle. In this case, the alert of alarm may be associated with the type of object that an operator would recognize as such (e.g. the word “BICYCLE” or the chime of a bike bell).

[0055] In some embodiments, there is provided Al-based image processing capabilities that configure the processor to analyze the image data collected by the internal and external cameras. Among other reasons, this may be to determine the level / type of an alert or notification to provide to the vehicle operator. For example, the image processing may recognize a gesture, position, or status of an operator or body parts of an operator (e.g. eye and eye direction, eyelids, hands, head, torso, etc.) using, as an input, a training set of image-related data of other operators and / or operator body parts in association with corresponding gestures, positions, or statuses. In some cases, the analysis is to alert the operator in manner commensurate with a potential safety-risk; in some cases, it may be to suppress an alert or alarm if the operator is determined to be aware of the corresponding object. This may occur if the Al-based image processing determines that the operator has become aware of the object (e.g. due to an associated reaction) and / or the object is clearly within the operator’s zone of focus; such suppression can be beneficial since a plurality of alarms may become distracting and / or result in desensitization and / or draw attention from other safety risks. In some embodiments, the Al-based image processing is configured to determine whether the operator is exhibiting actions or stress level thresholds that can be associated with health and safety issues, including if an emergency situation has been detected (which can be confirmed using IMU, proximity, or GNSS / RTK data; e.g. sudden deceleration). In such cases, automated actions performed on the operator’s behalf such as engaging with safety monitoring & emergency services (such as 911) or through direct communication with the operator to provide de-stressing stimuli or information and / or notifications that assistance has been notified and / or is en route. Yet further, camera data and derived real-time insights or alerts may be provided to fleet managers. For example, detected instances of distracted driving may be reported to fleet managers.

[0056] In some embodiments, the Al-based analysis is used to configure the processor with the capability to analyze the image data from the cameras to identify, and distinguishfrom other objects, specific types of objects in the vehicle’s surrounding. In addition, there is processing capability to assess or predict positional changes of objects that are in - or will be in - the vehicle’s environs; the processor is similarly configured to identify or predict the occurrence of specific types of traffic events (e.g. collisions, traffic blockage or slow-downs, or road safety events).

[0057] In some embodiments, the vehicle telematics device comprises a positioning system configured to provide real-time location data relating to the vehicle. In embodiments, the positioning system uses a satellite navigation system which uses satellites to provide autonomous geopositioning information, which may include satellite navigation system with global coverage such as the global navigation satellite system (GNSS). The GNSS may comprise one or more of the Global Positioning System (GPS), GLONASS, IRNSS, BeiDou, or Galileo, or other regional systems. In embodiments, a multi-variant / multi-region GPS module is provided in connection with the GNSS. In some embodiments, the GNSS system may be supplemented with Real Time Kinematics positioning systems (RTK), in which the GNSS module comprises an RTK receiver for receiving RTK signals from satellites as well as third-party telecommunications or Reconfigured infrastructure (e.g. base stations), which use measurements of the phase differences between corresponding signals from one or satellites directly and those received from the satellite indirectly via a transceiver of known location. RTK systems can generally obtain accuracy at or near centimeter-level.

[0058] In some embodiments, the positioning system comprises an inertial measurement unit (IMU) for additional positional correction. An IMU may comprise one or more of accelerometers, gyroscopes, and magnetometers, within an electronic device. The IMU uses the foregoing components to measure, and report same as data to the positioning system and / or processor, one or more of the vehicle’s specific force, angular velocity, and orientation. Along with a starting position, as provided by the GNSS, optionally supplemented with RTK correction, a highly accurate real-time assessment of positioning and relative orientation can be determined continuously using the data acquired from the IMU.

[0059] In some embodiments, the vehicle telematics device comprises a connection to the vehicle engine control unit (ECU). Accordingly, control information relating to control of the vehicle is communicated to the vehicle telematics device, as may be data from any other sensors to which the vehicle has access.

[0060] In some embodiments, the vehicle telematics device comprises one or more proximity sensors configured to detect objects and measure proximity from the vehicle once the object is sufficiently close to the vehicle. In some embodiments, the vehicle telematics device comprises one or more mmWave radar sensors, which are configured to measure to measure movement and acceleration of objects relative to the vehicle as small as a fraction of a millimeter. Such sensors may be used by the processor to assist in determining a proximity between the vehicle and surrounding objects. In some embodiments, integrated sensors in the vehicle telematics device are optionally supplemented with one or more peripheral sensors or devices connectable thereto. To provide therefor, embodiments of the vehicle telematics device include various ports or connectors, optionally including one or more plug-and-play type interface(s). Non-limiting examples of peripheral devices or sensors connectable to the vehicle telematics device include an additional camera, microphone, and radar module.

[0061] In some embodiments, the processor of or associated with the vehicle telematics device is configured to determine vehicle positioning information and / or the proximity between the vehicle and the one or more objects by performing sensor fusion. Indeed, in some embodiments, sensor data from the vehicle, the in-vehicle telematics device and / or peripheral device(s) connected thereto is combined using one or more filters to integrate data for improved accuracy and / or reliability of the outputted data. In some embodiments, the processor is configured to perform sensor fusion using a Kalman filter to integrate data from the GNSS, RTK, and IMU systems for improved real-time positioning accuracy, as will be described.

[0062] In some embodiments, the vehicle telematics device comprises one or more cellular communications antennas (e.g. LTE, 4G, 5G, etc.) associated with the communications bus. The cellular communications antennas are configured to receivecommunications from other vehicles, devices, or networks; in embodiments, a V2X communications protocol is used permitting direct or indirect communication from such external data sources. The external data sources provide positioning data regarding one or more objects external to the vehicle and the processor of the vehicle telematics device is configured to process such information to determine a proximity between the vehicle and one or more objects. The vehicle position may also be provided by such external data sources as an alternative or a supplement to the sensors and components of the vehicle telematics device. In such a way, the vehicle telematics has object-related positional data from, in many cases, a plurality of external sources transmitted to it over a V2X communications protocol; it can in many cases therefore provide highly accurate positional data, including positional data relating to the vehicle itself.

[0063] In some embodiments, the vehicle telematics device provides for retrofittable situational awareness for vehicles, optionally based at least partly on V2X protocols, whereby older vehicles and / or lower price point vehicles not fitted with advanced sensors and / or data processing capabilities can be upgraded to include the situational awareness features disclosed herein, amongst others contemplated, optionally in conjunction with driver or operator assistance features, as will become apparent from the following nonlimiting examples.

[0064] With reference to Figure 1, and in accordance with one exemplary embodiment, an in-vehicle telematics system, generally referred to using the numeral 100, will now be described. The system 100 comprises an in-vehicle telematics device 102 that can be mounted within a vehicle 104. For example, the in-vehicle telematics device 102 is mountable or affixable to a windshield or dashboard of the vehicle. In this embodiment as shown in Figure 1, the in-vehicle telematics device 102 comprises a front camera 106a and a rear camera 106b. The in-vehicle telematics device 102 also comprises, although not shown in Figure 1, the following components: an LCD display for conveying relevant information to an operator or passenger; internal-facing and external-facing high resolution cameras; a CANBus support for collecting telematics data directly from a vehicle’s ECUs (Electronic Control Unit); one or more external communications ports (e.g. a USB-C port) to support wired peripheral devices and docking stations for peripheral devices such asadditional cameras; an mmWave radar device; wireless communications interfaces (e.g. Cellular, WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity); an infra-red LED for night vision; an inertial measurement unit (IMU) (comprising one or more of an accelerometer, magnetometer, and / or gyroscope); an air pressure sensor; a GNSS / GPS device; an Real-Time Kinematics (RTK) receiver; a proximity sensor; one or more noise-canceling microphones (e.g. dual microphones); an internal speaker and / or access to the vehicle’s integrated audio system; an internal battery; a memory; and a Qualcomm Snapdragon™ processor (other processors may be used). With reference to Figure 1, the front camera 106a faces forward when properly installed in the vehicle and captures an exterior view of the vehicle. The rear camera 106b captures an interior view of the vehicle's cabin. Optionally, the rear camera 106b is installed to capture footage of the vehicle operator, including posture and facial features, inter alia.

[0065] The other components (or a combination thereof) described above that may not be shown, may provide other information to the processor of the device. As described further below with reference to Figure 3, the in-vehicle telematics device 102 may be connected to the vehicle's power supply as well as including an internal battery source. The connection to the vehicle's power supply may be provided directly to the vehicle's battery or may be connected to a switched power supply controlled by, for example, a 12 VDC port controlled by the vehicle's ignition system, or a power supply from an internal battery in the vehicle telematics device. Connecting the device 102 directly to the battery may allow the device to operate even if the vehicle is not running while connecting the device 102 to the switched power supply may ensure that the device 102 is only operational while the vehicle is running to ensure that the vehicle telematics device does not deplete the vehicle battery. Additionally, the connection of the power supply may be done through an on-board diagnostic (OBD) OBD-II port providing Controller Area Network (CAN bus) communications, or similar on-board port connection, which in addition to providing an electrical connection to the vehicle's ECU or computer provides a power connection allowing the in-vehicle device to be powered even when the vehicle is not running. However, when the vehicle telematics device 102 determines that the vehicle is off, for example by monitoring the OBD CAN bus and voltage / current levels on the power connection to determine the state of the vehicle, the device 102 may enter a low-powermode when the vehicle is not running in order to prevent unnecessarily draining the vehicle's battery or when a voltage / current level drops below a pre-defined threshold.

[0066] The vehicle telematics device 102 may capture and process the image or sensory data from the camera(s), IMU, the positioning system, the vehicle ECU, mmWave radar sensor, or other sensory components to perform various actions, including to acquire data that provides one or more of an indication of the vehicle position and changes thereto, indications of positions of objects outside the vehicle, and positions and status of the operator and / or passengers inside the vehicle. The data may be communicated to remote or cloud-based storage (e.g. as represented by storage devices 114, 12) and / or stored in the vehicle telematics device internal memory. For example, the device 102 may either or both store internally, and / or communicate to remote storage, digital representations acquired from image data from which positional and other data may be determined relating to objects depicted therein. The vehicle telematics device 102 includes image processing functionality for processing the image data received from the one or more of the cameras in order to identify features within the image data; in this respect, some embodiments comprise processing functionality that may include machine learning functionality that is configured to identify objects in the images (and distinguish them from other objects). In addition to exterior objects, the image from the internal-facing camera may also be processed in order to detect gestures or statuses performed by a vehicle occupant, and trigger an action associated with the detected gesture and / or status; such identification may include determining a zone of focus of the operator of the vehicle. The zone of focus is generally a zone or space in which the attention of the operator is directed, specifically or generally, and in which the operator has, will have, or is likely to have immediate awareness of objects and positional or status changes relating thereto.

[0067] The vehicle 104 can thus receive, via the componentry of the vehicle telematics device 102, via directly communication from other vehicles 130a, 130b or other external sources (e.g. a traffic camera 150), or in some cases via indirect communication from other vehicles or external sources via a cellular network infrastructure 110 and networks 112. It may also communicate to a remote computing device 114, a mobile device 108 with monitoring functionality, or a web server 122 that may provide web-based interface forconfiguring and interacting with the vehicle telematics device 102, including via a web browser on a home 116 computing device 120 via other Wi-Fi routers 118. The remote computing device 114 may be an online storage provider including a cloud computing resource, a social network, a website or websites or other remote locations. The vehicle telematics device 102 is configured to communicate with external data sources that are configured to transmit and / or receive vehicle and object positional information, including traffic camera 150 or other third-party infrastructure configured to transmit and / or receive vehicle and object data, such as, inter alia, traffic signals (not shown); such communication may be direct or via cellular infrastructure 110 and networks 112. In addition, satellites 140 provide GNSS services to the positioning systems in the vehicle telematics device 102, and optionally RTK data, directly from the satellite as well as via cellular (or other RTK- configured) infrastructure 110.

[0068] In some embodiments, the vehicle telematics device 102 is configured to communicate with a regional infrastructure management system or regional traffic management system, such as for a city, district or province. For example, the processor of the vehicle telematics device 102 may be configured to wirelessly interface with the regional infrastructure management system. In one embodiment, the vehicle telematics device 102 communicates traffic-related information, including the positioning and / or velocity of the vehicle amongst other data, to the regional infrastructure management system. Additionally, or alternatively, the vehicle telematics device 102 received traffic- related information from the regional infrastructure management system, including location of work zones and traffic signalling patterns, for example and without limitation, thereby providing bi-directional communication of traffic-related information between the vehicle telematics device 102 and traffic / infrastructure management system. Accordingly, some of the disclosed solutions allow for integration of the vehicle telematics device (and thereby, the vehicle and operator) within a smart traffic control system.

[0069] With reference to Figure 2, and in accordance with one exemplary embodiment, a vehicle telematics system, generally referred to using the numeral 100, depicts components of a vehicle telematics device. The vehicle telematics device 102 may be used as the vehicle telematics device 102 described above with regard to FIG. 1. The device 102depicted in FIG. 2 is only one possible implementation of a vehicle telematics device. The device 102 comprises a processing device 202, which may be provided by for example a central processing unit (CPU), programmable controller or microcontroller, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or similar device. The processing device 202 may be connected to a plurality of components including a power component 204 that supplies electrical power to the processing device 202 and other components of the vehicle telematics device. The power component 204 may provide output power based on a wide range of input powers. For example, the power component may operate with input voltages of 12 volts commonly found in passenger vehicles, or 24 volts commonly found in commercial vehicles as well as lower voltages of batteries. The power component 204 may include a battery connection for receiving power from an internal battery 206, which may be a rechargeable battery. Additionally, the power component 204 may include a connection for connecting to the vehicle's power. The connection to the vehicles power is depicted as being provided by an OBD-II port connection 208, although other connections are possible including for example a Deutsch 9-pin connector commonly found in commercial vehicles. The OBD-II port connection 208 can provide both power for the vehicle telematics device as well as access to vehicle information such as speed, braking, etc. The power component 204 may select an appropriate power source depending upon operating conditions. Further, the power component 204 may include monitoring functionality for monitoring a voltage of the vehicle's power supply to ensure that the device 102 does not drain the vehicle's power supply when the vehicle is not running. The device 102 may also monitor the vehicle's battery to reduce functions of the device 102 when the battery of the vehicle is below a certain level to reduce further drain. For example, if the vehicle is parked for an extended period of time the in-vehicle device 102 may enter a standby mode to reduce power consumption. In a standby mode, the in-vehicle device 102 may only monitor a subset of sensors or cameras of the device 102 to conserve power. Alternatively, the device 102 may utilize the internal battery 206 when the vehicle battery reaches a particular power level threshold. The internal battery 206 may provide extended operation of the vehicle telematics device 102 without depleting the vehicle's battery. The connection to the OBD- II port of the in-vehicle device 102 may be monitored to determine if it is disconnectedfrom OBD-II power of the vehicle. When a disconnection is detected, the in-vehicle device 102 will switch to internal battery power and transmit a notification that it has been unplugged and can send snapshots from the camera and location information.

[0070] In addition to the electrical connection to the vehicle's power source, the OBD- II port connector 208 may include data connections to the vehicle’s communication bus. The OBD-II port's data connections provide the in-vehicle device 102 access to vehicle data and telematics information. The data connections may be provided by an appropriate component for communicating with the vehicle's data bus. The bus communication component is depicted as a CAN bus interface 210 that can send and receive messages over a CAN bus, which are typically implemented within vehicles in order to allow different components, including controllers, sensors, and actuators to communicate with each other.

[0071] The vehicle telematics device 102 further comprises a number of components in communication with the processing device 202. As depicted the components include a forward camera 212 and a rear camera 214 (sometimes referred to as a forward-facing camera and a driver-facing camera, respectively). Although not depicted, the vehicle telematics device may include one or more infrared (IR) LEDs for lighting the interior of the cabin during nighttime, along with an IR switcher for the cabin facing camera to support night vision. In some embodiments, similar functionality may be provided for the exterior facing IR LEDs, for night vision on the exterior of the vehicle. As described above, the cameras may be arranged in order to capture an external view of the vehicle and an internal view of a cabin of the vehicle. The vehicle telematics device 102 may further comprise one or more display devices capable of displaying information, such as driving direction information, speed, navigation information, alerts or alarms, etc. The device 102 may further include a speaker and / or microphone 218. Additional sensors 220, such as pressure sensors, environmental sensors, motion sensors, light sensors, noise sensors, humidity sensors, etc. may be included. Further componentry may include a GNSS (e.g. using GPS) component 222 (which component may include an RTK-enabled receiver) for determining a location of the device 102 and accelerometers and / or gyroscopes as part of an IMU 224 for detecting movement and orientation of the device 102 and / or vehicle that may supplement the GNSS 222 to increase accuracy of positional information in real time.Indeed, in one embodiment, data from the GNSS 222, RTK and IMU 224 systems is integrated or fused, optionally with the application of a filter such as a Kalman filter, to yield improved real-time positioning accuracy over prior art solutions. There is also provided an OBD-II port connector 208 for accessing the vehicle's CAN bus, which may provide access to data from the vehicle's sensors or control access to other vehicle components, such as the vehicle speaker system.

[0072] The vehicle telematics device 102 may include a plurality of communication radios providing various communication channels. The communication radios may include relatively short-range radios, personal area network or local area network radios, such as a Bluetooth® radio 226 and a Wi-Fi® radio 228. Additionally, the communication radios include longer range radios or wide area networks radios, including a cellular radio 230 configured to receive V2X-based communications. The device 102 may be configured to use the Wi-Fi® radio or Bluetooth® radio to transfer data to another computing device such as the mobile device.

[0073] In some embodiments, the in-vehicle telematics device 102 includes a short- range wireless communication module which is configured to receive a wireless signal broadcast by one or more nearby external wireless-enabled devices using a short-range communication protocol, such as Bluetooth® Low Energy (BLE), Zigbee, or other comparable low-power wireless standards, without limitation. The short-range wireless communication module is further adapted to detect, identify, and / or communicate with transient or passing external wireless-enabled devices within its communication range, facilitating data exchange, device identification, and / or information relay to a remote server (optionally, a cloud platform) or central processing system via a long-range communication interface or channel (e.g., Wi-Fi, cellular), such as those described elsewhere herein. In some embodiments, therefore, the in-vehicle telematics device 102 is operable to function as a gateway which interfaces with compatible beacons and / or sensors, and relays data packets as useful or desired.

[0074] In some embodiments, the short-range wireless communication module comprises a BLE gateway (optionally, the Bluetooth® radio described elsewhere hereinoperates as the BLE gateway) and the short-range wireless communication protocol comprises BLE. The BLE gateway of the vehicle telematics device 102 is thus operable to scan, detect and obtain data from proximate Bluetooth-enabled devices (e.g., BLE beacons and sensors, typically operating in broadcasting mode) using BLE. Once the BLE gateway detects the BLE-enabled device(s) via the BLE protocol, the BLE gateway of the vehicle telematics device 102 is configured to receive data packets transmitted from the proximate BLE device(s), which may include identification information, sensor readings, operational status, or other relevant data. As noted, the BLE gateway in turn processes or packages the received data for transmission over the long-range communication interface to a remote server (optionally, a cloud platform) or centralized processing system.

[0075] In some embodiments, the short-range wireless communication module is configured to manage vehicle mobility and specifically, the module moving into and out of communication range with multiple external BLE-enabled devices over time. Furthermore, the short-range wireless communication module may be configured prioritize and / or filter transmitted data from external BLE-enabled devices. For example, identification of a BLE-enabled device and the type of object with which it may be associated (e.g. a traffic cone) may be useful, but other transmitted data, such as location of the external BLE-enabled device, may be determined or otherwise known by the in- vehicle telematics device 102 through other means. The short-range wireless communication module may also support bidirectional communication, in some embodiments, enabling information or data from the vehicle or the in-vehicle telematics device 102 itself to be relayed back to the external BLE-enabled device(s) via the same short-range protocol (BLE).

[0076] It is to be appreciated that the external BLE-enabled devices (and / or other external wireless-enabled devices in other embodiments) may include any number and type of BLE-enabled devices, beacons or sensors, including those deployed by third parties. For example, BLE-enabled devices are sometimes deployed on construction sites, including roadway construction sites, on construction workers or wearables, equipment, machinery, safety markers (e.g., traffic cones or pylons) and / or the like, and typically operate in broadcasting mode whereby data packets (typically including a unique identifier andpossibly sensor data) are periodically transmitted or broadcasted via the BLE protocol. As such, by the short-range wireless communication module detecting and obtaining data from external BLE-enabled devices associated with a roadway construction zone, for example, the in-vehicle telematics device 102 (and / or related system) can utilize such data to provide the vehicle operator (and optionally, other vehicle operators) with enhanced situational awareness. For example, vehicle operators can be notified of the existence of such roadway construction zone (or the presence of roadway construction workers) via the display interface and / or audio componentry of the vehicle telematics device 102. As another example, vehicle operators can be notified of the proximity of such roadway construction zone or roadway construction workers relative to the vehicle, via the display interface and / or audio componentry of the vehicle telematics device 102. As yet a further example, vehicle operators can be notified of the movement of roadway construction workers relative to the vehicle, via the display interface and / or audio componentry of the vehicle telematics device 102. Such external BLE-enabled devices often, although not necessarily, include a battery and circuit board, having a lifetime of up to 2 years with current designs in the art, at relatively low cost. As such, it is envisaged that various external components and / or structures may be fitted with such BLE-enabled devices, optionally assigned with unique identifiers, and that the in-vehicle telematics device 102 can exploit the deployment of such BLE-enabled devices to enhance situational awareness and / or safety of vehicle operators. Indeed, in some embodiments, locational positioning (e.g., longitude and latitude) of such BLE-enabled devices detected and / or communicated with by the short-range wireless communication module of the in-vehicle telematics device 102 can be determined (if not provided by the external device) by cross-referencing with the locational positioning of the vehicle or the in-vehicle telematics device 102, for example. Similarly, other data obtained by the in-vehicle telematics device 102 and / or connected peripheral devices can be associated with the BLE-enabled devices, such as camera images or video feed, for example and without limitation. Accordingly, in some embodiments, identification and data obtained from proximate BLE-enabled devices, as well as optionally additional associated data obtained from the in-vehicle telematics device 102 and / or connected peripheral devices, may be wirelessly communicated to a remote server (e.g., cloud-based server) for storage and further processing. In one instance of such further processing, thereis provided a determination or inference of the existence of a work zone at a certain location based, at least in part, on detecting multiple BLE-enabled devices (e.g., BLE-beacons) within a defined area. Typically, although not necessarily, the multiple BLE-enabled devices detected in this example include at least one BLE beacon associated with a construction pylon or traffic cone, for example. In turn, the system and / or in-vehicle telematics device 102 is configured to trigger an alert to the operator based on the determination of the existence of the work zone. For example, the alert may prompt the operator to reduce speed within or proximate the work zone. In addition to the sensors and components described above, the vehicle telematics device 102 may further include nonvolatile (NV) storage 232 for the storage of data, including for example captured audio / video and other sensor data. The NV storage 232 may be provided by removable and / or non-removable memory media and may be encrypted. For example, the NV storage 232 may be provided by non-removable memory as well as a removable memory card. Data may be stored to either the removable or non-removable storage. Data, such as captured audio / video, may be copied to both the removable storage and the non-removable storage for redundancy. The vehicle telematics device 102 may provide data logging functionality for vehicle telematics. The logged telematics data may be stored in the nonremovable storage to prevent tampering with the data. The data can be downloaded from the vehicle telematics device 102 by physically connecting the vehicle telematics device 102 to a computer, for example by a USB cable. Securing the data against tampering may allow the vehicle telematics device to be used in applications which the integrity of the logged data must be maintained. In order to download the data from the device 102, the in- vehicle device 102 may require confirmation to be provided from a mobile device associated with the vehicle telematics device 102 in order to provide access to the stored data. In addition to the NV storage, the device 102 may further comprises memory 234 for storing data and instructions 236. The instructions 236, when executed by the processing device 202, configure the vehicle telematics device to provide various monitoring functionality 238. The functionality 238 may provide various functionality to the vehicle telematics device 102 such as that described above with reference to the operation of the vehicle telematics device 102 described above.

[0077] The in-vehicle monitor's functionality 238 may be provided through various components or modules, which may be configured by the execution of instructions stored in memory by the processing device 202. FIG. 2 depicts the in-vehicle monitor's functionality 238 as being provided by data capture functionality 240, data processing functionality 242, event detection functionality 244, event processing functionality 246 and device control functionality 248. It will be appreciated that the described functionality may be provided in various ways.

[0078] The data capture functionality 240 may provide functionality for capturing data from numerous sources, including the forward camera 212 and rear camera 214, as well as from external data sources via the cellular radio antenna 230. The data capturing functionality 240 may control details of how the data is captured, including for example, frame rates, resolutions, encoding and compression. The data capture functionality 240 may also capture data from other sensors such as the GPS component 222 and the accelerometers and gyroscopes 224. The data processing functionality 242 includes instructions to assess proximities between the vehicle, based on the vehicle positioning information as determined from the vehicle positioning system, which includes the GNSS (GPS) component 222 which comprise RTK information. The particular data captured from the various data sources may be stored in association with time information to allow the stored data to be combined together at a later time. For example, video and audio data can be correlated with GPS / RTK, along with IMU inertial data to provide vehicle positioning system. Data acquired from external source via the cellular radio 230 is further associated therewith to determine real-time accurate proximities between the vehicle and one or more objects. In some embodiments, appropriate filters are applied to these data fusions, such as a Kalman filter, to improve accuracy. In some embodiments, confidence scores are assigned to proximities determined between the vehicle and one or more objects. In some embodiments, the confidence score(s) is based on the correlation between positional data and data from other sensors. For example, the correlation between positional data and visual data from the one or more cameras may be employed to assign a confidence score to the proximity of one or more detected external objects.

[0079] In addition to processing image data captured by from the rear camera 214, the data processing functionality may also process image data captured from the forward camera 212. The forward camera 212 image data may be processed to provide identification of various features, including for example vehicle and obstacle detection, road sign detection, pedestrian detection, which may all be correlated, generally for purposes of ensuring accurate relative positional information, with corresponding positional data from external sources. The data processing may be configured to cause audio from within the cabin, including 3D audio functionality, to cause alarms or alerts, which may correspond to the identified specific types of objects or object-related events and their location relative to the operator, and then operate the speaker system in the vehicle to cause the operator to perceive the sound as originating from a direction associated with the location of the identified specific types of objects or object-related events (e.g., a road blockage or accident occurring in real time). The data processing component 244 may also process sensor data, such as accelerometer data, and telematics data received from the vehicle (or in-vehicle telematics device itself) to identify possible events or triggers such as hard braking, acceleration, impacts etc., all of which may trigger crash detection and notification to predetermined contacts. Other events detectable with data processing include extreme cornering and idling, amongst others.

[0080] In some embodiments, the existence or detection of an object-related characteristic in proximity to the vehicle is assessed by a dynamic situational awareness model to determine one or both of relevance and priority of the object-related characteristic prior to indicating the existence thereof to the operator. The dynamic situational awareness model in some embodiments, assesses the object-related characteristic in conjunction with any one or combination of: operator state, environmental conditions, object proximity, other object existence, other object proximity and / or the like. Such assessment is typically based on the sensed data acquired and / or otherwise the data extracted from sensed data, including using object recognition, object classification, computer vision, and / or related Al-based determinations. In turn, the relevancy and / or priority of the object-related characteristic detected may dictate when, if at all, an alert or notification of the object- related characteristic is provided to the vehicle operator. For example, the dynamic situational awareness model may find that an upcoming vehicle collision (object-relatedcharacteristic) has multiple vehicles involved (other object existence and other object proximity), and the rain conditions (environmental conditions) decrease visibility and increase braking distance (vehicle operation data), such that an early alert is triggered. To elaborate further, if the dynamic situational awareness model finds the ambient noise to be loud (e.g., via sound data from microphone integrated into or connected to the vehicle telematics devices), such as due to loud music being played to avoid operator drowsiness (previously detected and prompted), but the upcoming vehicle collision is considered of greater relevance or priority, the model prioritizes the vehicle collision alert and may, for example, reduce vehicle music output levels to do so.

[0081] As noted, the in-vehicle telematics device 102 in this embodiment comprises one or more external communications ports (not shown) to support wired peripheral devices or accessories. For example, the one or more external communications ports may include a universal serial bus C port (USB-C port) for supporting one or more peripheral devices, both for power supply and connectivity to the vehicle telematics device. It is to be appreciated that one or more peripheral devices may be connectable directly to the in- vehicle telematics device 102 via the USB-C ports, in some embodiments. Typically, however, a communications port expander hub (e.g., a USB hub) is connectable directly to the in-vehicle telematics device 102 via a communications port (e.g., USB-C port), whereby two or more peripheral devices are connectable to the communications port expander hub (e.g., USB hub) for ultimate connectivity to the communications port (e.g., USB-C port) of the in-vehicle telematics device 102. The communications port expander hub is, in this embodiment, powered by a power source such as the vehicle battery, either via direct hardwiring or via a 12V auxiliary power outlet.

[0082] The in-vehicle telematics device 102 and its processor is, in this embodiment, configured to enable and disable power to the outlet ports on the USB hub, thereby to control power to the two or more peripheral devices connected to the USB hub. Furthermore, the processor is operable to control the data communication or data lines to each downstream outlet port on the USB hub. The processor of the in-vehicle telematics device 102 being configured to control power output and / or data lines to the peripheral devices via the USB hub is beneficial to control operation of such peripheral devices. Forexample, if the vehicle is parked, the in-vehicle telematics device 102 will switch to a low power mode and the peripherals will typically be disabled to avoid unnecessary power consumption. However, if the in-vehicle telematics device 102 detects occurrence of a vehicle collision, either in association with the vehicle or in association with another vehicle (e.g., with a lamp post), for example, or otherwise another event of interest, the in- vehicle telematics device 102 can activate power supply and / or data lines to one or more of the peripheral devices connected thereto to record data pertaining to such collision or event. For example, an auxiliary camera or radar may be activated to record relevant data from the environment. As another example, the in-vehicle telematics device 102 control of the power output and / or data lines to one or more peripheral devices via the hub may allow for power cycling (automatically or on demand). If the in-vehicle telematics device 102 detects that a peripheral device is frozen, such as due to a firmware issue, the in-vehicle telematics device 102 may initiate one or more rounds of power cycling to reset the peripheral device to resolve the issue. Indeed, in some embodiments, the aforementioned configuration may allow the in-vehicle telematics device 102 to perform diagnostics on connected peripheral devices, in some embodiments.

[0083] With reference to Figure 3, and in accordance with one exemplary embodiment, an in-vehicle telematics system as shown in block diagram format showing exemplary componentry and connectivity, generally referred to using the numeral 200, will now be described. There is provided a central control module 301, which is in the form of a system on module (SoM). In this embodiment, the SoM comprises a Qualcomm™-based SoM.

[0084] In some embodiments, this control module 301 comprises a Power Management Integrated Circuit (PMIC) 302, a general purpose Input / Output 303, one or more camera interfaces 304 and 305, an audio interface 306, a display interface 307, a high-density memory storage NAND Flash 308 connected to a memory controller 309 (e.g., SD controller), a low-power double data rate storage 310 (optionally, dual channel) connected to dynamic random access memory 311 (DRAM), a secure digital memory controller 312, a universal serial bus (USB) connector 314, a data controller 315 (or USB 2 data), and a WiFi™ / Bluetooth™ unit 316 that connects to a WiFi™ / Bluetooth™ antenna 345 through a WiFi / ™Bluetooth™ Transceiver 317, without limitation.

[0085] In some embodiments, this control module 301 comprises low-speed interfaces 318, that comprise of one or more low-speed serial interfaces such as serial peripheral interfaces (SPI) 319a, 391b, one or more inter-integrated circuit interface (i2c) 320 321, and universal asynchronous receiver / transmitter (UART) 322. In some embodiments, the peripheral sensors that connect to the low-speed interfaces 318 may include a proximity / gesture sensor 350, a gyro / accelerometer sensor 351, a fan controller 352, a pressure sensor 353 and a magnetometer sensor 354. The fan controller 352 may connect to one or more fan units 355.

[0086] In some embodiments, the control module 301 comprises one or more camera interfaces 304 and 305 that are connected to cameras with different resolutions such as a 4K road camera 323 and a 1080p cabin camera 324 respectively. The control module 301 may also comprise of an audio interface 306 that connects through an audio coder / decoder (Codec) 325 (or audio driver, see also microphones illustrated in Figure) to a speaker device 326 on the control module 301; while not shown, the audio interface 306 may connect to the in-vehicle audio system. In some embodiments, the display interface 307 may connect to an LCD display 327. In some embodiments, a SD controller 312 may be connected to an external memory card 313 (e.g., via microSD card port) through a secure digital interface. In some embodiments, a USB connector 314 may be connected to an external USB Type-C connector or port 328.

[0087] In some embodiments, the control module 301 comprises a high-speed data control interface (USB 2.0) 340 that connects to a high-speed multimode wireless module 341 with GPS. In some embodiments, the high-speed multimode wireless module 341 with GPS may use cellular technology designed for high data rates, power efficient technology, such as CAT4 LTE, which provides near-permanent connectivity. The high-speed multimode wireless module 341 with GPS may comprise one or more antennas such as a primary antenna 342 (optionally, a LTE main antenna), auxiliary antenna 343 (optionally, a LTE auxiliary antenna) and a GPS antenna 344 (optionally, a GNSS antenna). In some embodiments, the GPS antenna 344 may connect to the high-speed multimode wireless module 341 and an optional Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) module 346 (in one embodiment, GNSS (L1+L5) RTK + DR). The high-speed multimode wireless module341 (e.g., CAT 4 LTE) may connect to an external subscriber identity module (SIM) 347 such as a Micro SIM or a Nano SIM.

[0088] In some embodiments, the in-vehicle telematics device comprises an adaptive power management module. Generally, the adaptive power management module manages power to one or more components or sensors of the in-vehicle telematics device (or components of the vehicle itself), and optionally one or more peripheral devices connected thereto, depending on one or more defined operational power management rules. For example, the one or more defined operational power management rules in one embodiment include detected vehicle state (e.g., on, off, idling, moving), sensor activity, user-defined power management priorities and / or the like. To provide one example of user-defined power management priorities, in a vehicle forming part of a fleet, power supply to one or more sensors associated with location detection may be prioritized over one or more sensors associated with driving characteristics, without limitation. In some embodiments, the adaptive power management module forms part of the control module or processor. In some embodiments, this control module 301 comprises a Power Management Integrated Circuit (PMIC) 302 which may connect to one or more backup battery sources 360 (or main internal battery). The Power Management Integrated Circuit 302 may connect to a power regulators / PMICs 361 and a processor power converter 362 (optionally to 5V power) through a power switch 363 (on / off switch). In some embodiments, an external power connector 370 connects a battery 371 (12V / 24V VDC) and a fuse protection clamp 372 (or fuse and power protection). The fuse protection clamp 372 may connect to the processor power converter 362 as well as other power circuitry such as a control area network (CAN) bus power converter 381 and voltage and current measurement resistors 373. In some embodiments, an external power connector 370 (e.g., OBD II connector) connects to a control area network (CAN) transceiver 380 that is powered by the control area network (CAN) bus power converter 381 (e.g., 3v3 power). In some embodiments, the control area network (CAN) transceiver 380 connects to a microcontroller unit (MCU) bridge 382 that may connect to the central control module 301 through a general-purpose interface 303.

[0089] In some embodiments, there is provided image processing utilizing artificial intelligence (Al) capabilities, which may be stored as a set of computer readable instructions or software in the data storage component for execution by the processor. For example, the processor can be configured to estimate full body position of the operator, facial pose of the operators, operator face landmark detection, and operator gaze at a high frequency, along with additional operator state classifications, optionally utilizing neural network functionality (e.g. MobileNetV3 embedding network + custom fully-connected classification neural network) in order to determine operator pose, state, and actions in realtime. The estimated 3D environmental considerations relative to the vehicle telematics device, driver awareness to important object events (e.g. another vehicle approaching in unsafe manner, pedestrian crossing, etc.) can be estimated via an estimated perspective transformation associated with to the drivers frame of reference and the known transformation between the cabin and road facing cameras (or other sensor data or acquired data).

[0090] In some embodiments, the vehicle telematics device processor is configured to implement an Al-based analysis to assist the positioning system in generating at least one of the vehicle positioning information and the object positioning information. For example, RTK / DR geolocation modules may have their accuracy improved, or even predict upcoming object movement, by using traditional visual odometry methods (e.g. Nister's Five Point Algorithm + FAST feature detection + Kanade-Lucas-Tomasi feature tracking) operating on the road facing camera are utilized in conjunction with vehicle sensor data (GPS, IMU data, ECU speed data) in order to provide a redundant means of obtaining an accurate position estimation of the vehicle. In some embodiments, RTK and / or DR geolocation methodologies can be used without GNSS, including in the event that GNSS is unavailable, including because, for example without limitation, GNSS is inoperative or jammed, the vehicle telematics device does not comprise GNSS functionality (at all or the internal functionality becomes inoperative), or the true GNSS is spoofed. In some embodiments, object detection functionalities (e.g. YOLO, EfficientDet) are performed continuously by the processor using, in some embodiments, image data from the road facing camera in order to detect objects or object classes of interest that have a capability of locomotion (cars, pedestrians, animals, etc.). By masking with the detection results, theobjects local optical flow (versus the estimated vehicle's global static flow, calculated with the Lucas-Kanade method) in collaboration with real-time monocular depth estimation models (Depth Anything, pose-aided SfM photogrammetry) allows for an accurate and efficient monocular estimation of 3D relative motion between the vehicle and both moving and static objects.

[0091] In some embodiments, the vehicle telematics device processor is configured to detect a loss or degradation of one or more positioning signals, and in response thereto, the processor is configured to initiate a positioning fallback mode using any one or more of other positioning methods, such as RTK-based data, dead reckoning (i.e., positioning calculation based on distance and / or direction travelled), and inertial measurement unit (IMU) data. For example, a loss or degradation of GNSS and / or RTK signals may be experienced. In such an example, the processor is configured to initiate the positioning fallback mode using dead reckoning and IMU data. Notably, the positioning fallback mode is typically only maintained until such time as the lost or degraded signal(s) are restored, at which point the processor switches back to the normal positioning system determination(s).

[0092] In some embodiments, the vehicle telematics device processor is configured to detect GNSS radio interference based at least in part on inconsistencies between IMU- derived inertial data and GNSS-derived position data. In this context, the GNSS radio interference comprises GNSS spoofing, GNSS jamming and / or the like, including other GNSS interference described herein.

[0093] In some embodiments, the vehicle telematics device processor is configured to implement an Al-based analysis of image data from the exterior facing camera to determine road safety issues and automatically report them. For example, the vehicle's road facing camera is continuously fed into a series of classification (e.g., MobileNetV3), object detection (e.g., EfficientDet, others), depth estimation (e.g., Depth Anything), and visual odometry / SLAM models and computations. Classification models can detect and report on the presence, location, and estimated position of events and situations useful to the vehicle and / or third-party devices, including objects such as potential accident scenarios,illegally parked vehicles, important infrastructural changes (road flooded, fires) and more. In some embodiments, such Al-based analysis may additionally be fed data pertaining to external short-range wireless-enabled devices detected by a short-range wireless communication module of the in-vehicle telematics device 102, thereby to determine appropriate associations based on the existence, identity and / or location of detected external wireless-enabled devices, for example.

[0094] In some embodiments, the vehicle telematics device processor is configured to implement an Al-based analysis of image data from the interior facing camera to detect operator stress levels (e.g., yelling, facial stress indicators, hand / finger gestures) and / or operator fatigue levels, typically in real-time or at least, near real-time. Driver full body, facial pose, face landmark detection, and gaze is estimated (e.g., through using BlazePose, BlazeFace) at a high frequency on the vehicle telematics device along with additional driver state classifications (e.g., MobileNetV3 embedding network + custom fully- connected classification neural network) in order to determine operator pose, state, and actions in real-time. In addition, a high-quality audio feed of the cabin's internals is captured and classified (YAMNet). From these classifications, driver stress levels, fatigue levels and anomalous behaviours can be estimated. De-stressing actions can be implemented or prompted via the screen and speaker system as result of detected stress levels or stress-related activities, and similarly prompts to address fatigue can be conveyed to address same.

[0095] In some embodiments, the vehicle telematics device further comprises a biometric sensor arranged to capture biometric data associated with the operator during operation of the vehicle (or presence therein). For example, the biometric sensor comprises any one or combination of the following in various embodiments: fingerprint sensor, iris scanner, facial recognition scanner, voice recognition microphone, heart rate sensor, breathing rate sensor, and / or the like. In some implementations, the vehicle telematics device processor is configured to implement an Al-based analysis of the biometric data captured (and optionally, stored) to detect operator physiological characteristics and optionally generate one or more alerts, to the operator and / or remote managers, for example. In some embodiments, the Al-based analysis of the biometric data is employedto enhance detection or operator stress or fatigue levels. For example, an increasing heart rate may be associated with a raising stress level, or a risk of heart attack. In turn, the processor of the vehicle telematics device is configured to selectively trigger alerts based on one or more thresholds derived from biometric data trends, optionally associated with an individual operator. For example, if an operator’s heart rate typically sits at around X, with normal tolerances in the range of X-Y to X+Y, a detected heart rate of X+Y+l may trigger an alert (where X is an average observed heartrate of a specific operator under normal conditions, and Y is a threshold heartrate change that may indicate an adverse stress or health event).

[0096] In some embodiments, the vehicle telematics device processor is configured to communicate with traffic signals, or other traffic-related infrastructure, configured to receive traffic signal pre-emption signals. For example, in cases where the vehicle is an emergency vehicle, such as, inter alia, an ambulance, paramedic, police vehicle, or fire services vehicle, the vehicle telematics device may transmit a traffic signal pre-emption signal to ensure that the traffic signal remains in, and / or changes to, a state that permits the emergency vehicle to pass through the intersection unhindered with cross traffic. In some embodiments, the vehicle telematics device is configured to receive confirmation that traffic signal pre-emption is in effect. Other similar signals may be received by the vehicle telematics device, including, status of walk button or accessible pedestrian status (APS), a safety rating for an approaching set of objects, object density (i.e. traffic), or pedestrian traffic. In some embodiments, the determination of a traffic signal pre-emption signal being required or desired is based, at least in part, on signalized intersection data received by the vehicle telematics device. Typically, signalized intersection data includes signal phase and timing (SPaT messages) and geometries associated with intersections (MAP messages). In one embodiment, such signalized intersection data is received from a third-party data source, as described elsewhere herein.

[0097] In some embodiments, the processor of the vehicle telematics device is configured to identify an object-related characteristic for at least one object, the object- related characteristic comprising at least one of an object type and object status of the corresponding object. In other words, the processor analyzes image data (possiblysupplemented with object-related positional information) to determine the type of object and then associate a given alarm or alert with that specific object type. The processor may use an Al-based model using a training set, to identify the object-related characteristic from amongst a set of known object types. The object-related characteristic may be one or more of the following: cycles (e.g. bicycles, quad- or tri-bikes, mopeds, motorcycles, e-bikes, cyclists, etc.), scooters, pedestrian, automotive vehicle, electrically-powered vehicle, lane marker, pole, sign, traffic signal, traffic cone, sidewalk, emergency vehicle, police vehicle, ambulance, fire services vehicle, road hazard, accident, blockage, potential accidents, traffic congestion, environmental hazard, pot hole, flooding, snow, fallen debris, animals, construction markers, railway, wheelchair, disability and mobility aids, lane closures, construction sites (or zones), construction equipment, construction worker, roadworks sites (or zones), roadworks equipment, roadworks signage, traffic signage, bike lanes, amongst an array of others.

[0098] In some embodiments, data relating to the location and classification of external objects, whether sensed and determined by a vehicle telematics device, or received thereby from a third-party device via, e.g., a V2X protocol, may be stored in a remote data repository and made accessible to other third parties (possibly subject to privacy or other similar requirements). In some embodiments, aggregated data may be used by or provided to third-parties to assess compliance with one or more regulatory requirements, which may also be stored or accessible from the data storage repository. For example, location data obtained in respect of traffic cones and traffic signs, as may be collected via BLE communications from low power devices associated therewith (or alternatively as collected using camera and sensor data from one or more vehicle telematics devices), in association with proximal lane arrangements and conditions (e.g. speed limits) and road construction conditions, may be assessed against pre-determined required layouts of traffic cone and sign arrangements (and other traffic indicia) as specified by a local jurisdiction (e.g. the Ontario Traffic Manual of Temporary Conditions). As such, compliance with local regulations for very specific traffic indicia layout may be ensured by construction companies to ensure employee compliance and performance and to avoid fines, and governmental authorities can ensure regulatory compliance and timely completion of construction projects, as well as timely removal of traffic cones, signs, and other indicia(as well as inventory tracking thereof). In some embodiments, traffic flow, or lack thereof, may be assessed using the aggregated data.

[0099] In some embodiments, object classification and / or computer vision techniques are employed by the processor of the vehicle telematics device for the detection of the object-related characteristic. In one embodiment, the object-related characteristic is detected or determined using a combination of object classification methods and computer vision techniques based on sensor data acquired, as described elsewhere herein. In some embodiments, which may or may not be incorporated with the foregoing embodiment, the object-related characteristic is determined or otherwise confirmed based on establishing communication with the object, such as via a short-range wireless communication protocol, optionally with low power requirements, as described elsewhere herein.

[0100] In some embodiments, the processor of the vehicle telematics device is configured to employ computer vision techniques to extract, analyze and interpret human facial expressions, gaze direction, gestures, postures and / or body movement, including for the vehicle operator and humans external to the vehicle (being the one or more external objects in such a scenario). Such techniques are useful in some embodiments to infer intent and / or predict object (human) movement. For example, computer vision may be utilized to detect operator drowsiness and initiate a suitable response prompt. As another example, computer vision may be utilized to predict pedestrian movements at a pedestrian crossing and initiate a vehicle response (e.g., braking) and / or trigger an operator alert thereto.

[0101] In one embodiment, the processor of the vehicle telematics device is in communication with a stored library of known objects, such library including metadata associated with respective objects for identifying or confirming external objects. For example, the metadata for motor vehicles may include metadata aiding identification of the type, make and model of motor vehicles detected. Furthermore, the processor maintaining this library of known objects aids in object recognition and alert customization. For example, an alert associated with a truck may differ from an alert associated with a coupe.

[0102] In some embodiments, the vehicle telematics device processor is configured to receive, process and optionally output incoming data from external third-party sources toenhance operator situational awareness provided by the in-vehicle telematics device 102 (and / or system). Incoming third-party data may include, without limitation, speed enforcement zones, speed enforcement camera locations, traffic control indicators, traffic conditions, road hazards, weather conditions, school or playground zones, road mapping data, intersection geometries (e.g., MAP messages), traffic signal phases and timing (e.g., SPaT messages), and / or the like. In some embodiments, incoming third-party data is obtained from external mapping and / or geographic data services, such as TomTom® or Esri®, to provide but two examples. The vehicle telematics device processor processes such incoming third-party data, in some embodiments, to generate real-time alerts for display for the vehicle operator via the in-vehicle telematics device 102. By leveraging and integrating third-party databases and / or services into the vehicle telematics device and / or system herein disclosed, the device 102 can provide predictive warnings regarding potential speeding violations and other regulatory infractions, for example, enabling proactive operator behavior to reduce the likelihood of receiving a traffic ticket. It is to be appreciated that the vehicle telematics device processor contextualizes such incoming third-party data, based on stored instructions, with reference to other vehicle-related data including, without limitation, locational data, speed data, and direction of travel associated with the vehicle.

[0103] In some embodiments, data by the in-vehicle telematics device and / or system may be encrypted during transmission and stored securely in a centralized server environment (optionally, a remote, cloud-based server). Redundancy, access control, and compliance with data privacy regulations (e.g., GDPR, CCPA) may be incorporated into the storage and access systems. In some embodiments, a local storage module (e.g., SD card or onboard SSD) is also included to ensure data retention during network outages, as mentioned above.

[0104] In one specific embodiment contemplating data privacy, the processor (typically, of the in-vehicle telematics device) is configured to contribute object classification data extracted from raw image data obtained from the one or more cameras of the in-vehicle telematics device to a machine learning system or model, without sharing the raw image data. In some embodiments, such object classification data is contributed toa federated learning system, which may form part of the integrated processor or otherwise one or more processors, to improve the functionality and / or accuracy of a shared machine learning model without inputting the raw image data. Such embodiments, therefore, provide for data privacy and security whilst continuously improving the solution.

[0105] Notably, the vehicle telematics device, system and / or method solutions disclosed herein thus provide vehicles lacking advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) with similar situational awareness, and provide for customization or configuration options for individual operator or fleet manager needs, without compromising of quality or accuracy of the data, and maintaining data privacy.

[0106] Turning now to a further embodiment of the disclosure, there is provided a system comprising: a plurality of vehicle telematics devices, such as any of the abovedescribed embodiments; and a remote central processing system configured to wirelessly receive data from the plurality of vehicle telematics devices in real-time; wherein such received data is aggregated and analyzed at the remote central processing system to generate a predictive situational awareness model. In one embodiment, the predictive situational awareness model outputs at least traffic alerts and hazard alerts based on the received data. In one embodiment, wherein the predictive situational awareness model outputs one or more available routes or one or more protective prompts based on the received data.

[0107] While the present disclosure describes various embodiments for illustrative purposes, such description is not intended to be limited to such embodiments. On the contrary, the applicant's teachings described and illustrated herein encompass various alternatives, modifications, and equivalents, without departing from the embodiments, the general scope of which is defined in the appended claims. Except to the extent necessary or inherent in the processes themselves, no particular order to steps or stages of methods or processes described in this disclosure is intended or implied. In many cases the order of process steps may be varied without changing the purpose, effect, or import of the methods described.

[0108] Information as herein shown and described in detail is fully capable of attaining the above-described object of the present disclosure, the presently preferred embodiment of the present disclosure, and is, thus, representative of the subject matter which is broadly contemplated by the present disclosure. The scope of the present disclosure fully encompasses other embodiments which may become apparent to those skilled in the art, and is to be limited, accordingly, by nothing other than the appended claims, wherein any reference to an element being made in the singular is not intended to mean "one and only one" unless explicitly so stated, but rather "one or more." All structural and functional equivalents to the elements of the above-described preferred embodiment and additional embodiments as regarded by those of ordinary skill in the art are hereby expressly incorporated by reference and are intended to be encompassed by the present claims. Moreover, no requirement exists for a system or method to address each and every problem sought to be resolved by the present disclosure, for such to be encompassed by the present claims. Furthermore, no element, component, or method step in the present disclosure is intended to be dedicated to the public regardless of whether the element, component, or method step is explicitly recited in the claims. However, that various changes and modifications in form, material, work-piece, and fabrication material detail may be made, without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure, as set forth in the appended claims, as may be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art, are also encompassed by the disclosure.

Claims

CLAIMSWhat is claimed is:

1. A vehicle telematics device for use within a cabin of a vehicle, comprising: a positioning system configured to provide, in real-time, vehicle positioning information for the vehicle; a wireless communication interface, coupled to a wireless network connection, and configured to receive, in real-time, object positioning information for one or more objects outside the vehicle from one or more external data sources; a memory for storing data and instructions; and a processor operably coupled to the positioning system, the memory, and the wireless communication interface, the processor configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory to configure the vehicle telematics device to: determine a proximity between the vehicle and the one or more objects outside the vehicle, in real-time, using the vehicle positioning information and the object positioning information for the one or more objects; and output the proximity between the vehicle and the one or more objects outside the vehicle to an operator of the vehicle.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the positioning system comprises a satellite-based positioning system.

3. The device of claim 2, wherein the satellite-based positioning system comprises a global navigation satellite system (GNSS).

4. The device of claim 3, wherein the GNSS utilizes one or more of Global Positioning System (GPS), BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS), Galileo, Glonass, Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), and Quasi -Zenith.

5. The device of any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein the positioning system comprises real-time kinematics (RTK) in association with existing third-party infrastructure.

6. The device of any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the positioning system comprises one or more inertial measurement units (IMUs) in data communication with the processor, wherein the memory stores vehicular inertial data.

7. The device of claim 6, wherein the one or more IMUs comprise at least one of the following: an accelerometer, a gyroscope, and a magnetometer.

8. The device of either one of claim 6 or claim 7, wherein the vehicle positioning information is, at least in part, determined using the vehicular inertial data from the positioning system.

9. The device of any one of claims 1 to 8, further comprising a communication interface for coupling the vehicle telematics device to an electronic control unit (ECU) of the vehicle to access ECU vehicle telematics.

10. The device of claim 9, wherein the positioning system uses the ECU vehicle telematics to, at least in part, generate at least one of the vehicle positioning information and the object positioning information.

11. The device of any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the processor is configured to detect a loss or degradation of one or more vehicle positioning signals, and wherein in response thereto, the processor is configured to initiate a positioning fallback mode using any one or both of dead reckoning and inertial measurement unit (IMU) data.

12. The device of any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein the processor is configured to detect GNSS radio interference based at least in part on inconsistencies between IMU- derived vehicular inertial data and GNSS-derived positioning data.

13. The device of claim 12, wherein the GNSS radio interference comprises any one or both of GNSS spoofing and GNSS jamming.

14. The device of any one of claims 1 to 13, wherein the processor is configured to perform sensor fusion using a Kalman filter to integrate data from the positioning system for real-time positioning accuracy.

15. The device of any one of claims 1 to 14, wherein the device further comprises one or more exterior-facing cameras in data communication with the processor.

16. The device of claim 15, wherein the positioning system uses data from the one more exterior-facing cameras to, at least in part, generate at least one of the vehicle positioning information and the object positioning information.

17. The device of claim 16, wherein the processor implements an artificial intelligence (Al)-based analysis to assist the positioning system in generating at least one of the vehicle positioning information and the object positioning information using image data from the one or more exterior-facing cameras.

18. The device of any one of claims 1 to 17, wherein the wireless communication interface is further configured to share at least one of the vehicle positioning information and the object positioning information with the external data sources.

19. The device of any one of claims 1 to 18, wherein at least one of the vehicle positioning information and the object positioning information is communicated via the wireless communication interface using a Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) communications protocol.

20. The device of any one of claims 1 to 18, wherein the wireless communication interface comprises a short-range wireless communication module which is configured toreceive a wireless signal broadcast by the one or more external data sources using a short- range communication protocol.

21. The device of claim 20, wherein the one or more external data sources comprise one or more short-range wireless-enabled devices associated with the one or more objects external to the vehicle.

22. The device of claim 21 , wherein the short-range communication protocol comprises a Bluetooth® Low Energy (BLE) protocol and wherein the one or more short-range wireless-enabled devices comprise Bluetooth® Low Energy (BLE) enabled devices.

23. The device of any one of claims 20 to 22, wherein data packets received by the device via the short-range wireless communication module are wirelessly transmitted over a long-range communication interface to a remote, cloud-based server.

24. The device of claim 23, wherein data packets received in respect of a particular object is stored on the remote, cloud-based server in linkable association with other data from the device which is associated with the particular object based at least in part on the object positioning information.

25. The device of any one of claims 1 to 24, wherein the device further comprises a display screen for viewing by the operator of the vehicle, and wherein the display screen is configured to display any one or more of: a visual representation of the vehicle positioning information, a visual representation of the object positioning information, and proximity information relating to the vehicle and any of the one or more objects.

26. The device of claim 25, wherein the display screen is configured to display a visual representation of an alarm signal based on the proximity information relating to the vehicle and any of the one or more objects.

27. The device of any one of claims 1 to 26, further comprising connectivity to a speaker system for generating sounds audible by the operator of the vehicle.

28. The device of claim 27, wherein the processor is configured to generate an audible alarm via the speaker system in response to an alarm signal generated based on the proximity between the vehicle and any of the one or more objects.

29. The device of claim 28, wherein the processor is configured to cause, using the speaker system, a perception of the audible alarm as originating from a selectable location, wherein the selectable location is associated with the object positioning information.

30. The device of any one of claims 1 to 29, further comprising an interior-facing camera in data communication with the processor.

31. The device of claim 30, wherein the interior-facing camera is configured to analyze operator characteristics to determine a zone of focus of the operator.

32. The device of claim 31, wherein any alarm signal that is associated with the proximity of an object that is within the zone of focus of the operator is suppressed.

33. The device of either one of claim 31 or claim 32, wherein analyzing of the operator characteristics utilizes an Al-based model.

34. The device of any one of claims 31 to 33, further comprising a biometric sensor arranged to capture biometric data associated with the operator, wherein the processor is configured to analyze the biometric data to assess operator stress or fatigue levels.

35. The device of any one of claims 1 to 34, wherein the device receives electrical power from a power source that does not require power from a vehicle power source.

36. The device of any one of claims 1 to 35, wherein the processor is configured to identify an object-related characteristic for at least one object of the one or more objectsoutside the vehicle, the object-related characteristic comprising at least one of an object type and an object status of the corresponding object.

37. The device of claim 36, wherein the processor uses an Al-based model trained using a machine learning (ML) training set, to identify the object-related characteristic.

38. The device of either one of claim 36 or claim 37, wherein the object-related characteristic comprises one or more of the following: cycle, pedestrian, automotive vehicle, electrically-powered vehicle, lane marker, pole, sign, traffic signal, traffic cone, sidewalk, emergency vehicle, police vehicle, ambulance, fire services vehicle, road hazard, accident, blockage, potential accident, traffic congestion, bicycles, quad-bike, tri-bike, moped, motorcycle, e-bike, cyclist, scooter, environmental hazard, pot hole, flooding, snow, fallen debris, animal, construction marker, railway, wheelchair, disability and mobility aids, lane closures, construction sites, construction equipment, construction worker, roadworks sites, roadworks equipment, roadworks signage, traffic signage, and bike lanes.

39. The device of any one of claims 36 to 38, wherein the vehicle telematics device indicates the existence of the object-related characteristic to the operator.

40. The device of claim 39, wherein the existence of the object-related characteristic is assessed by a dynamic situational awareness model, in conjunction with any one or combination of: operator state, environmental conditions, object proximity, other object existence, other object proximity, and vehicle operation data, to determine one or both of relevance and priority of the object-related characteristic prior to indicating the existence thereof to the operator.

41. The device of claim 37, wherein the Al-based model assigns to the object-related characteristic identified object classification data; and wherein the processor is configured to contribute the object classification data, without raw image data, to a federated learning system of the Al-based model, via the wireless communication interface.

42. The device of any one of claims 1 to 41, wherein the vehicle telematics device is configured to transmit traffic-signal pre-emption signals to one or more traffic signals, and the wireless communication interface is configured to detect the transmission of the trafficsignal pre-emption signals.

43. The device of claim 42, wherein the vehicle telematics device is configured to receive a confirmation of receipt of the traffic-signal pre-emption by the one or more traffic signals.

44. The device of either one of claim 42 or claim 43, wherein an absence of objects in an intersection associated with the traffic signal pre-emption signal is communicated to the operator via the vehicle telematics device.

45. The device of any one of claims 1 to 44, further comprising a peripheral connector port for connection of a peripheral device, wherein the peripheral connector port optionally receives a port expander hub to allow connection of two or more peripheral devices to the device.

46. The device of claim 45, wherein the port expander hub is operable under control of the processor to selectively enable or disable any one of both of power delivery and data communication associated with each downstream port.

47. The device of any one of claims 1 to 46, wherein the processor is configured to retrieve and process third-party data from a third-party data source, the third-party data comprising at least mapping data associated with traffic enforcement zones, to generate an alert to the operator via the vehicle telematics device when the vehicle is approaching a known enforcement zone.

48. The device of any one of claims 1 to 47, wherein the processor is configured to wirelessly interface with a regional infrastructure management system or a regional traffic management system for bi-directional communication of traffic-related information.

49. The device of any one of claims 1 to 48, comprising an adaptive power management module configured for selectively managing power supply to any one or combination of: device-integrated components, in-vehicle components and peripheral components, based on any one or combination of vehicle state, sensor activity and user-defined priorities.

50. A vehicle comprising a vehicle telematics device comprising: a positioning system configured to provide, in real-time, vehicle positioning information for the vehicle; a wireless communication interface, coupled to a wireless network connection, and configured to receive, in real-time, object positioning information for one or more objects outside the vehicle from one or more external data sources; a memory for storing data and instructions; and a processor operably coupled to the positioning system, the memory, and the wireless communication interface, the processor configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory to configure the vehicle telematics device to: determine a proximity between the vehicle and the one or more objects outside the vehicle, in real-time, using the vehicle positioning information and the object positioning information for the one or more objects; and output the proximity between the vehicle and the one or more objects outside the vehicle to an operator of the vehicle.

51. The vehicle of claim 50, wherein the positioning system comprises a satellite-based positioning system.

52. The vehicle of claim 51, wherein the satellite-based positioning system comprises a global navigation satellite system (GNSS).

53. The vehicle of claim 52, wherein the GNSS utilizes one or more of Global Positioning System (GPS), BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS), Galileo, Glonass, Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), and Quasi -Zenith.

54. The vehicle of any one of claims 51 to 53, wherein the positioning system comprises real-time kinematics (RTK) in association with existing third-party infrastructure.

55. The vehicle of any one of claims 50 to 54, wherein the positioning system comprises one or more inertial measurement units (IMUs) in data communication with the processor, wherein the memory stores vehicular inertial data.

56. The vehicle of claim 55, wherein the one or more IMUs comprise at least one of the following: an accelerometer, a gyroscope, and a magnetometer.

57. The vehicle of either one of claim 55 or claim 56, wherein the vehicle positioning information is, at least in part, determined using ther vehicular inertial data from the positioning system.

58. The vehicle of any one of claims 50 to 57, wherein the vehicle telematics device further comprises a communication interface for coupling the vehicle telematics device to an electronic control unit (ECU) of the vehicle to access ECU vehicle telematics.

59. The vehicle of claim 58, wherein the positioning system uses the ECU vehicle telematics to, at least in part, generate at least one of the vehicle positioning information and the object positioning information.

60. The vehicle of any one of claims 50 to 59, wherein the processor is configured to detect a loss or degradation of one or more vehicle positioning signals, and wherein in response thereto, the processor is configured to initiate a positioning fallback mode using any one or both of dead reckoning and inertial measurement unit (IMU) data.

61. The vehicle of any one of claims 50 to 60, wherein the processor is configured to detect GNSS radio interference based at least in part on inconsistencies between IMU- derived inertial data and GNSS-derived position data.

62. The vehicle of claim 61, wherein the GNSS radio interference comprises any one or both of GNSS spoofing and GNSS jamming.

63. The vehicle of any one of claims 50 to 62, wherein the processor is configured to perform sensor fusion using a Kalman filter to integrate data from the positioning system for real-time positioning accuracy.

64. The vehicle of any one of claims 50 to 63, wherein the vehicle telematics device further comprises one or more exterior-facing cameras in data communication with the processor.

65. The vehicle of claim 64, wherein the positioning system uses data from the one more exterior-facing cameras to, at least in part, generate at least one of the vehicle positioning information and the object positioning information.

66. The vehicle of claim 65, wherein the processor implements an artificial intelligence (Al)-based analysis to assist the positioning system in generating at least one of the vehicle positioning information and the object positioning information using image data from the one or more exterior-facing cameras.

67. The vehicle of any one of claims 50 to 66, wherein the wireless communication interface is further configured to share at least one of the vehicle positioning information and the object positioning information with the external data sources.

68. The vehicle of any one of claims 50 to 67, wherein at least one of the vehicle positioning information and the object positioning information is communicated via the wireless communication interface using a vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications protocol.

69. The vehicle of any one of claims 50 to 68, wherein the wireless communication interface comprises a short-range wireless communication module which is configured toreceive a wireless signal broadcast by the one or more external data sources using a short- range communication protocol.

70. The vehicle of claim 69, wherein the one or more external data sources comprise one or more short-range wireless-enabled devices associated with the one or more objects external to the vehicle.

71. The vehicle of claim 70, wherein the short-range communication protocol comprises a Bluetooth® Low Energy (BLE) protocol and wherein the one or more short- range wireless-enabled devices comprise Bluetooth® Low Energy (BLE) enabled devices.

72. The vehicle of any one of claims 69 to 71, wherein data packets received by the vehicle telematics device via the short-range wireless communication module are wirelessly transmitted over a long-range communication interface to a remote, cloud-based server.

73. The vehicle of claim 72, wherein data packets received in respect of a particular object is stored on the remote, cloud-based server in linkable association with other data from the vehicle telematics device and / or vehicle which is associated with the particular object based at least in part on the object positioning information.

74. The vehicle of any one of claims 50 to 73, wherein the vehicle telematics device further comprises a display screen for viewing by the operator of the vehicle, and wherein the display screen is configured to display any one or more of: a visual representation of the vehicle positioning information, a visual representation of the object positioning information, and proximity information relating to the vehicle and any of the one or more objects.

75. The vehicle of claim 74, wherein the display screen is configured to display a visual representation of an alarm signal based on the proximity information relating to the vehicle and any of the one or more objects.

76. The vehicle of any one of claims 50 to 75, the vehicle telematics device further comprising connectivity to a speaker system for generating sounds audible by the operator of the vehicle.

77. The vehicle of claim 76, wherein the processor is configured to generate an audible alarm via the speaker system in response to an alarm signal generated based on the proximity between the vehicle and any of the one or more objects.

78. The vehicle of claim 77, wherein the processor is configured to cause, using the speaker system, a perception of the audible alarm as originating from a selectable location, wherein the selectable location is associated with the object positioning information.

79. The vehicle of any one of claims 50 to 78, further comprising an interior-facing camera in data communication with the processor.

80. The vehicle of claim 79, wherein the interior-facing camera is configured to analyze operator characteristics to determine a zone of focus of the operator.

81. The vehicle of claim 80, wherein any alarm signal that is associated with the proximity of an object that is within the zone of focus of the operator is suppressed.

82. The vehicle of either one of claim 80 or claim 81, wherein analyzing of the operator characteristics utilizes an artificial intelligence (Al)-based model.

83. The vehicle of any one of claims 79 to 82, further comprising a biometric sensor arranged to capture biometric data associated with the operator, wherein the processor is configured to analyze the biometric data to assess operator stress or fatigue levels.

84. The vehicle of any one of claims 50 to 83, wherein the vehicle telematics device receives electrical power from a power source that does not require power from a vehicle power source.

85. The vehicle of any one of claims 50 to 84, wherein the processor is configured to identify an object-related characteristic for at least one object of the one or more objects outside the vehicle, the object-related characteristic comprising at least one of an object type and an object status of the corresponding object.

86. The vehicle of claim 85, wherein the processor uses an Al-based model trained using a machine learning (ML) training set, to identify the object-related characteristic.

87. The vehicle of either one of claim 85 or claim 86, wherein the object-related characteristic comprises one or more of the following: cycle, pedestrian, automotive vehicle, electrically-powered vehicle, lane marker, pole, sign, traffic signal, traffic cone, sidewalk, emergency vehicle, police vehicle, ambulance, fire services vehicle, road hazard, accident, blockage, potential accident, traffic congestion, bicycles, quad-bike, tri-bike, moped, motorcycle, e-bike, cyclist, scooter, environmental hazard, pot hole, flooding, snow, fallen debris, animal, construction marker, railway, wheelchair, disability and mobility aids, lane closures, construction sites, construction equipment, construction worker, roadworks sites, roadworks equipment, roadworks signage, traffic signage, and bike lanes.

88. The vehicle of any one of claims 85 to 87, wherein the vehicle telematics device or vehicle indicates the existence of the object-related characteristic to the operator.

89. The vehicle of claim 88, wherein the existence of the object-related characteristic is assessed by a dynamic situational awareness model, in conjunction with any one or combination of: operator state, environmental conditions, object proximity, other object existence, other object proximity, and vehicle operation data, to determine one or both of relevance and priority of the object-related characteristic prior to indicating the existence thereof to the operator.

90. The vehicle of claim 86, wherein the Al-based model assigns to the object-related characteristic identified object classification data; and wherein the processor is configuredto contribute the object classification data, without raw image data, to a federated learning system of the Al-based model, via the wireless communication interface.

91. The vehicle of any one of claims 50 to 90, wherein the vehicle telematics device is configured to transmit traffic-signal pre-emption signals to one or more traffic signals, and the wireless communication interface is configured to detect the transmission of the trafficsignal pre-emption signals.

92. The vehicle of claim 91, wherein the vehicle telematics device is configured to receive a confirmation of receipt of the traffic-signal pre-emption by the one or more traffic signals.

93. The vehicle of either one of claim 91 or claim 92, wherein an absence of objects in an intersection associated with the traffic signal pre-emption signal is communicated to the operator via the vehicle telematics device or the vehicle.

94. The vehicle of any one of claims 50 to 93, wherein the vehicle telematics device comprises a peripheral connector port for connection of a peripheral device, and wherein the peripheral connector port optionally receives a port expander hub to allow connection of two or more peripheral devices to the vehicle telematics device.

95. The vehicle of claim 94, wherein the port expander hub is operable under control of the processor to selectively enable or disable any one of both of power delivery and data communication associated with each downstream port.

96. The vehicle of any one of claims 50 to 95, wherein the processor is configured to retrieve and process third-party data from a third-party data source, the third-party data comprising at least mapping data associated with traffic enforcement zones, to generate an alert to the operator via the vehicle telematics device when the vehicle is approaching a known enforcement zone.

97. The vehicle of any one of claims 50 to 96, wherein the processor is configured to wirelessly interface with a regional infrastructure management system or a regional traffic management system for bi-directional communication of traffic-related information.

98. The vehicle of any one of claims 50 to 97, further comprising an adaptive power management module configured for selectively managing power supply to any one or combination of vehicle components, in-vehicle telematics device components and peripheral components, based on any one or combination of vehicle state, sensor activity and user-defined priorities.

99. A method of determining proximities between a vehicle and one or more objects outside the vehicle, in real-time, the method comprising the steps of: sensing vehicle positioning information for the vehicle using a vehicle positioning system; receiving object positioning information in real time for one or more objects outside the vehicle from one or more external data sources via a wireless communication interface coupled to a wireless network connection; determining, using a digital data processor, a proximity between the vehicle and the one or more objects outside the vehicle in real-time based on the vehicle positioning information and the object positioning information for the one or more objects; and outputting the proximity between the vehicle and the one or more objects outside the vehicle to an operator of the vehicle via a user-perceptible interface.

100. The method of claim 99, wherein the vehicle positioning system comprises a satellite-based positioning system.

101. The method of claim 100, wherein the satellite-based positioning system comprises a global navigation satellite system (GNSS).

102. The method of claim 101, wherein the GNSS utilizes one or more of Global Positioning System (GPS), BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS), Galileo, Glonass, Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), and Quasi -Zenith.

103. The method of any one of claims 99 to 102, wherein the vehicle positioning system comprises real-time kinematics (RTK) in association with existing third-party infrastructure.

104. The method of any one of claims 99 to 103, wherein the vehicle positioning system comprises one or more inertial measurement units (IMUs) in data communication with the processor, wherein the memory stores vehicular inertial data.

105. The method of claim 104, wherein the one or more IMUs comprise at least one of the following: an accelerometer, a gyroscope, and a magnetometer.

106. The method of either one of claim 104 or claim 105, wherein the vehicle positioning information is, at least in part, determined using the vehicular inertial data from the vehicle positioning system.

107. The method of any one of claims 99 to 106, wherein the vehicle positioning information is determined, at least in part, using vehicle telematics information from an electronic control unit (ECU) of the vehicle.

108. The method of any one of claims 99 to 107, further comprising detecting a loss or degradation of one or more vehicle positioning signals, and in response thereto, initiating a positioning fallback mode using any one or both of dead reckoning and inertial measurement unit (IMU) data.

109. The method of any one of claims 99 to 108, further comprising detecting GNSS radio interference based at least in part on inconsistencies between IMU-derived inertial data and GNSS-derived position data.

110. The method of claim 109, wherein the GNSS radio interference detectable includes any one or both of GNSS spoofing and GNSS jamming.

111. The method of any one of claims 99 to 110, wherein any one or both of the vehicle positioning information and the proximity between the vehicle and the one or more objects is determined by the digital data processor performing sensor fusion using a Kalman filter to integrate data from the vehicle positioning system.

112. The method of any one of claims 99 to 111, wherein receiving object positioning information via the wireless communication interface comprises receiving from the one or more external data sources via the short-range communication protocol broadcasted data packets associated with one or more objects.

113. The method of claim 112, wherein the one or more external data sources comprise one or more short-range wireless-enabled devices associated with the one or more objects external to the vehicle.

114. The method of claim 113, wherein the short-range communication protocol comprises a Bluetooth® Low Energy (BLE) protocol and wherein the one or more short- range wireless-enabled devices comprise Bluetooth® Low Energy (BLE) enabled devices.

115. The method of any one of claims 112 to 114, further comprising wirelessly transmitting the data packets received over a long-range communication interface to a remote, cloud-based server.

116. The method of claim 115, further comprising storing the data packets received on the remote, cloud-based server, wherein the data packets in respect of a particular object are stored in linkable association with other data from the vehicle telematics device which is associated with the particular object based at least in part on the object positioning information.

117. The method of any one of claims 99 to 116, wherein the vehicle positioning system uses data from one or more exterior-facing cameras in data communication with the processor.

118. The method of claim 117, wherein the processor implements an artificial intelligence (Al)-based analysis to assist the vehicle positioning system in generating at least one of the vehicle positioning information and the object positioning information using image data from the one or more exterior-facing cameras.

119. The method of any one of claims 99 to 118, wherein the wireless communication interface is further configured to share at least one of the vehicle positioning information and the object positioning information with the external data sources.

120. The method of any one of claims 99 to 118, wherein the wireless communication interface sends and receives information using a vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications protocol.

121. The method of any one of claims 99 to 120, wherein a display screen for viewing by the operator is configured to display any one or more of: a visual representation of the vehicle positioning information, a visual representation of the object positioning information, and proximity information relating to the vehicle and any of the one or more objects.

122. The method of claim 121, wherein the display screen is configured to display a visual representation of an alarm signal based on the proximity information relating to the vehicle and any of the one or more objects.

123. The method of any one of claims 99 to 122, wherein a speaker system is configured to generate an audible alarm in response to an alarm signal generated by the processor based on the proximity between the vehicle and any of the one or more objects.

124. The method of claim 123, wherein the processor is configured to cause, using the speaker system, a perception of the audible alarm as originating from a selectable location, wherein the selectable location is associated with the object positioning information.

125. The method of any one of claims 99 to 124, wherein an interior-facing camera in data communication with the processor is configured to analyze operator characteristics.

126. The method of claim 125, comprising the step of analyzing operator characteristics to determine a zone of focus of the operator.

127. The method of claim 126, further comprising the step of suppressing any alarm signal that is associated with the proximity of an object that is within the zone of focus of the operator.

128. The method of any one of claims 125 to 127, wherein the analyzing of the operator characteristics utilizes an artificial intelligence (Al)-based model.

129. The method of any one of claims 125 to 128, further comprising analyzing biometric data associated with the operator and captured using a biometric sensor to assess operator stress or fatigue levels, and selectively triggering alerts based on one or more thresholds derived from biometric data trends.

130. The method of any one of claims 99 to 129, comprising identifying, using the processor, an object-related characteristic for at least one object of the one or more objects outside the vehicle, the object-related characteristic comprising at least one of an object type and an object status of the corresponding object.

131. The method of claim 130, wherein the processor uses an Al-based model trained using a machine learning (ML) training set, to identify the object-related characteristic.

132. The method of either one of claim 130 or claim 131, wherein the object-related characteristic comprises one or more of the following: cycle, pedestrian, automotive vehicle, electrically-powered vehicle, lane marker, pole, sign, traffic signal, traffic cone, sidewalk, emergency vehicle, police vehicle, ambulance, fire services vehicle, road hazard, accident, blockage, potential accident, traffic congestion, bicycles, quad-bike, tri-bike, moped, motorcycle, e-bike, cyclist, scooter, environmental hazard, pot hole, flooding, snow, fallen debris, animal, construction marker, railway, wheelchair, disability and mobility aids, construction sites, construction equipment, construction worker, roadworks sites, roadworks equipment, roadworks signage, traffic signage, and bike lanes.

133. The method of any one of claims 99 to 132, comprising the step of indicating the existence of the object-related characteristic to the operator.

134. The method of claim 133, comprising the step of assessing the existence of the object-related characteristic with a dynamic situational awareness model, in conjunction with any one or combination of: operator state, environmental conditions, object proximity, other object existence, other object proximity, and vehicle operation data, to determine one or both of relevance and priority of the object-related characteristic prior to indicating the existence thereof to the operator.

135. The method of any one of claims 131 to 134, further comprising the steps of: assigning to the object-related characteristic identified object classification data using the Al-based model; and contributing the object classification data, without raw image data, to a federated learning system of the Al-based model, via the wireless communication interface.

136. The method of any one of claims 99 to 135, comprising the step of transmitting traffic-signal pre-emption signals to one or more traffic signals; and optionally, detecting the transmission of the traffic-signal pre-emption signals via the wireless communication interface.

137. The method of claim 136, comprising the step of receiving a confirmation of receipt of the traffic-signal pre-emption by the one or more traffic signals.

138. The method of either one of claim 136 or claim 137, comprising the step of indicating an absence of objects in an intersection associated with the traffic signal preemption to the operator.

139. The method of any one of claims 99 to 138, further comprising selectively controlling a peripheral connector port associated with an in-vehicle telematics device to selectively control any one or both of power delivery and data communication associated therewith.

140. The method of any one of claims 99 to 139, further comprising retrieving and processing third-party data from a third-party data source, the third-party data comprising at least mapping data associated with traffic enforcement zones, to generate an alert to a vehicle operator via when the vehicle is approaching a known enforcement zone.

141. The method of any one of claims 99 to 140, further comprising wirelessly interfacing with regional infrastructure management system or a regional traffic management system for bi-directional communication of traffic-related information.

142. The method of any one of claims 99 to 141, further comprising selectively managing power supply to one or more components of the in-vehicle telematics device or one or more components peripheral thereto, via an adaptive power management module and based on any one or combination of vehicle state, sensor activity and user-defined priorities.

143. A system comprising: a plurality of vehicle telematics devices, wherein each device is according to any one or more of claims 1 to 49; and a remote central processing system configured to wirelessly receive data from the plurality of vehicle telematics devices in real-time; wherein such received data is aggregated and analyzed to generate a predictive situational awareness model.

144. The system of claim 143, wherein the predictive situational awareness model outputs at least traffic alerts and hazard alerts based on the received data.

145. The system of either one of claim 143 or claim 144, wherein the predictive situational awareness model outputs one or more available routes or one or more protective prompts based on the received data.

146. A system configured to perform the method according to any one or more of claims 99 to 142.

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