Seeing Machines, an Australia-based advanced computer vision technology company that designs AI-powered operator monitoring systems to improve transport safety, has collaborated with automotive Tier 1 Magna on a demonstrator that features a fully integrated Driver Monitoring System (DMS) combining camera, electronics and interior mirror technology.
The demonstrator melds Magna’s mirror technology, camera design, integration and packaging know-how, with Seeing Machines’ approach to an optimized and co-designed optical path, embedded processing and enhanced AI vision algorithms for DMS. This technology, the company says, addresses the critical challenges associated with managing vehicle electronics integration and cost, with the need for seamless camera packaging across a diverse line of vehicle models.
Seeing Machines’ enhanced Fovio eDME (embedded Driver Monitoring Engine) algorithms and processor optimized and accelerated software, which solves the need for an optimized processing footprint, low thermal dissipation, and the small overall mechanical size and weight needed for a viable all-in-one Mirror-based DMS solution.
Seeing Machines says it has further addressed the difficulties associated with a movable mirror/camera combination through use of vision-based dynamic real-time detection and calibration techniques. While providing an effective and simplified DMS solution, the integrated mirror location also offers an effective cabin camera position and field of view, for both driver and occupant monitoring for many passenger vehicles; the camera is not too high in the vehicle cabin to obtain information critical for NCAP and regulatory standards associated with driver distraction and impairment, and not too low for an expanded interior occupant view, enabling a range of safety and convenience features inside the cabin.
Paul McGlone, CEO at Seeing Machines, said, “Building a solution that brings a fully integrated DMS into the rear-view mirror responds directly to the increasingly difficult packaging environment for car makers with expanding infotainment and advanced driver assistance electronics complexity and ever larger cockpit displays. Working with Magna, a mobility technology company and leading supplier in mirrors and vision systems to the auto market, has brought two leading technologies together and we are looking forward to progressing opportunities to deliver this innovation to the industry more broadly.”
