By Paul Morris
Cameras are being used in more vehicles every
day, and while most current applications look "outward" (like
rear-view camera or lane-departure-warning) newer implementations will face "inward"
– capturing views of the driver, passengers and cargo. Visteon has been developing
driver monitoring applications and recently introduced the "HMEye"
demonstration concept. The name HMEye is
a play on the term Human Machine Interaction (HMI) combined with Eye-Tracking. The concept uses eye-tracking cameras and
software that allow the driver to interact with some vehicle controls.
Today
Some in-vehicle camera products available
today provide features like drowsy and distracted driver monitoring. These cameras observe the driver’s eyelid
opening, blink rate or head position. Most
of these vehicles use a single camera and some type of infra-red (IR)
illumination to work during the day or at night. For example, Lexus offers a driver monitoring
system as part of its Pre-Collision Safety Package and other companies offer
aftermarket solutions for large truck fleets.
Near Future
For a system to monitor the driver, it needs
to be positioned in front of the driver’s face, which is why wearable trackers
can be advantageous (see image below of a wearable tracker). However, drivers usually won’t be wearing a
tracker, so a camera with IR flash system needs to be mounted in the direction
the driver intends to use it. Typically, it will be affixed in the
forward-looking direction, but could also be positioned to the side, depending
on the range of eye/head movement the system is designed to track. Low-cost
integrated trackers will be limited in vehicles, because they usually are only
configured for a single display on a desktop. The main challenge for the
vehicle interior designer will be to package the cameras and flash units in a
way that is optically functional, but also aesthetically pleasing.
Once enough camera and flash coverage is
provided, a higher-accuracy gaze-tracking function can be added to enable
features like gaze-controlled HMI. This feature is demonstrated on Visteon’s HMEye
demonstration property. These features would be in addition to the base drowsy
and distracted driver features mentioned above.
Further Out
There are many interesting scenarios when capabilities
like computer vision with artificial intelligence (AI) are added. Think about
the vehicle as an “attentive mobility assistant” that always focuses on its
customers: the driver, passengers and cargo in the vehicle. In the past, the
vehicle only responded to the sense of touch (a button press, etc.). A few years ago it evolved into hearing (via
microphones) and can now understand vocal commands. Vehicles are integrating sight
(via cameras), which initially will be poor, but will improve over time as they
are developed to recognize new objects and behaviors. A vehicle will see
externally (e.g. pedestrian detection) and internally (e.g. driver monitoring)
and will begin to learn patterns from good drivers and share them with drivers
who need more help. The system will aid the transition between driver-control
and autonomous-control and have context and situational awareness that allows
it to adapt its behaviors appropriately. Many new opportunities will emerge as
vision technologies continue to develop.
Thanks Paul for sharing this technology introducing content. I appreciate your suggestions, there are many types of camera and security gadgets are available for vehicles in current scenario according to requirement. Novus Auto is such type of company which introduce many type of vehicle cameras and security equipment.
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