This SMART 100 profile and the information it contains is a duplication of content submitted by the applicant during the entry process. As a function of entry, applicants were required to declare that all details are factually correct, do not infringe on another’s intellectual property and are not unlawful, threatening, defamatory, invasive of privacy, obscene, or otherwise objectionable. Some profiles have been edited for reasons of space and clarity.
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1. THE BEGINNING
This innovation initially came to life when…
When Seeing Machines started working with Volvo and Bosch to explore ways of better understanding and contextualising a driver’s ability and availability to provide the required inputs to safely operate a vehicle on a public roadway. Research and development activities where almost entirely suspended when the global financial crisis slowed the automotive industry, but rapidly revived three years ago when Seeing Machines was approached by one of the world’s global automotive manufacturers to help them meet their driver monitoring requirements for their first semi-autonomous car.
The purpose of this innovation is to…
Monitor driver head position, eye lids and eye-gaze direction in real-time. These signals provide vehicle safety-systems with driver alertness levels and their ability to provide required driving inputs. The system also provides vehicle with an eye-gaze based human machine interface.
It does this by…
embedding a special, mobile phone sized, camera that can see through sun glasses into the vehicle’s instrument cluster. Invisible infrared light illuminates the driver’s face and creates a glint on the smooth part of their cornea. Software interprets head angles, eye lid aperture and eye gaze direction through an understanding of head and eye position in the vehicle’s 3D environment.
3. PURPOSE & BENEFITS
This innovation improves on what came before because…
Seeing Machines’ DMS identifies micro-sleeps and distractions instantaneously when they happened and wakes or alerts the driver proactively preventing potential accidents. Fused with other vehicle safety and advanced driver assistance systems, our DMS can instantly instructs the vehicle to temporarily take over from the driver to break, steer and even stop the vehicle to mitigate immediate risks.
Its various benefits to the customer/end-user include…
preventing fatigue and distraction related accidents, allowing semi-autonomous vehicles to understand the driver’s availability, provide safer airbag systems that know precise head location and orientation and, as a platform, enable numerous new safety, comfort and convenience features.
4. COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE
In the past, this problem was solved by…
measuring driver steering wheel input and trip duration in attempt to identify driver fatigue. When steering patterns become sluggish or lazy, a coffee cup warning light illuminates on the dashboard let the driver know that they should take a break. More advanced systems also use off center vehicle lane movement to improve performance.
Its predecessors/competitors include…
contact-based, electrocardiogram sensors in steering wheel covers, seat belts or seat cushions (problematic in semi-autonomous where hands are not on wheel or signals are obstructed by multiple clothing layers). Other solutions include blink-sensing spectacles or headsets that monitor head positions.
5. TARGET MARKET
It is made for…
Going into new road-going private and public passenger vehicles and commercial transport vehicles at time of manufacture (as part of the Advanced Driver Assistance System or ADAS system). Global 2015 road-going vehicle production comprised approximately 70 million cars and 20 million trucks. These combined figures are expected to surpass 100 million units by 2020 and automotive industry analyst forecast camera based driver monitoring system to be manufactured into approximately 16.5 million vehicles per year by 2020.
It is available for sale through…
Automotive manufacturers as a standard or optional features. Our first-generation DMS technology has been sourced for 16 models of passenger cars in North America, China and Europe. The technology is under evaluation/consideration by nine manufacturers for a multitude of models.
Our marketing strategy is to…
Continue promoting our hardware module and embedded software technology to global automotive manufacturers. Our sales process involves leasing a PC-based evaluation system to manufacturers to facilitate assessment of our technology and in-cab positioning options. When the manufacturers elect to source our technology, they then direct their tier-one suppliers to purchase our module for the manufacturing of the DMS solution.
FINE PRINT: This SMART 100 profile and the information it contains is a duplication of content submitted by the applicant during the entry process. As a function of entry, applicants were required to declare that all details are factually correct, do not infringe on another’s intellectual property and are not unlawful, threatening, defamatory, invasive of privacy, obscene, or otherwise objectionable. Some profiles have been edited for reasons of space and clarity.
