Nowadays, driver distraction and fatigue cause about 400,000 car accidents in the U.S. every year. If the driver is distracted from the road for only two seconds, traveling 105 kilometers per hour, he can drive about 60 meters and not see what is in front or around him.
People are imperfect and can make dangerous mistakes when they focus their attention off the road. Adding artificial intelligence to the vehicle cabin can add a reliable level of safety to ensure that drivers remain alert or take action if they do not pay attention to the traffic situation.
The NVIDIA DRIVE IX software package gives carmakers the flexibility to develop artificial intelligence. The system relies on cameras and sophisticated deep learning software powered by the NVIDIA DRIVE platform in the car.
One such AI-enabled application using the DRIVE IX system is driver monitoring. Just as deep learning algorithms learn driving data to drive a vehicle, algorithms built on DRIVE IX can be trained to identify certain types of behavior and make a conclusion about whether the driver pays attention to the road – for example, by tracking the head and eyes, blink rate to assess driver fatigue and drowsiness. Depending on the manufacturer’s preferences, the system can alert the driver with audible, visual, or tactile alerts to restore focus on the road.
DRIVE IX can also monitor the environment outside the vehicle and determine if the driver is aware of oncoming traffic. If the driver is about to get out of the car without looking at the rider riding nearby, DRIVE IX may intervene, warn the rider or prevent the door from opening until the rider rides through.
In addition to reading facial expressions and sign language, DRIVE IX can use deep learning to decipher the intentions of those outside the car, such as a pedestrian on a corner or people’s gestures.
References:
https://www.digitaltrends.com/cars/nvidia-drive-ix-and-drive-ar-ces-2018/
Less accidents on the road more lives saved
I would say that it would be splendid to implement such stuff, especially if it would blatanly stop the car if it recognizes that a person is on the phone etc.