Continental have a driver-facing camera and image-processing software that can determine if someone using an automated-driving mode falls unconscious or isn’t paying attention. Infrared sensors are included so facial movements can be detected during nighttime driving.
Continental see the technology as a way to help re-engage a driver who may be switching between an automated highway mode (SAE Levels 2 and 3) and non-automated city driving. Frank Rabe, an Executive VP of Continental’s HMI business unit, told WardsAuto “There will be a phase where not everything is automated. So when you switch from the one mode to the other, from automated to non-automated, well that’s when you better wake up the driver so he takes over. So you need to always understand [what the driver is doing]. Is he sleeping? OK, so it may take longer to wake him up. And this is why we need to understand the situation of the driver.”
The camera monitors a driver’s eyes, mouth, and ears. In conjunction with the image-processing software, it judges attentiveness and time spent looking away from the road, Rabe says.
“Is the driver having a smartphone close to the ear? Not using hands-free calling?” he says of distractions the software is trying to identify, noting the camera will have full view of not just the driver’s face but likely part of his or her shoulders as well.
Continental also see multiple other use cases, including parents preventing their children driving their cars, as well as uniting autonomy with the other coming trend of new mobility.
Automakers will choose where to put the camera—above the steering column, in the instrument cluster, or in the roof module. Driver position will become critical in the future when it comes to the safe deployment of airbags, as autonomous driving means driver position won’t be as constant as it is today.
