Disclosed is a method and apparatus for detecting a state of a vehicle occupant, wherein a bio-signal of an occupant riding in a vehicle may be acquired by executing an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm or a machine learning algorithm, and a physical change of the occupant may be measured by a movement signal, a respiratory signal, and a heart rate signal from the acquired bio-signal of the vehicle occupant, such that it is possible to control an operation of an internal vehicle device or to control operation of the vehicle so as to correspond to the physical change of the occupant estimated by communicating with the internal vehicle device in a 5G communication environment. According to the present disclosure, the movement signal, respiratory signal, and heart rate signal of the occupant in the vehicle may be extracted via an RF sensor mounted in the vehicle, and the physical state of the occupant may be estimated based on the extracted bio-signal of the occupant, and when the physical state is estimated to be abnormal, the occupant may be informed of the abnormal physical state.
