Latin America. DTS announced at CES 2022 the launch of its single-camera solution for driver and occupant monitoring DTS AutoSense.
This new solution provides an enhanced driver and occupant detection function with a single camera, while reducing system-level integration, calibration and installation costs. Xperi showcased the implementation of an AutoSense DTS camera with a live demonstration as part of CES in the Automotive Room (West Room), booth 3831, of the Las Vegas Convention Center.
The launch comes just as the relationship between distracted driving and vehicle safety has spawned a series of actions globally to incentivize automakers to implement driver and occupant detection systems, such as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the U.S. Hot Cars Act (both in the United States); and the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP).
"In the United States, traffic accidents are the leading cause of death for people between the ages of 1 and 54 and result in the deaths of 1.35 million people globally each year," said Jeff Jury, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Xperi Connected Car. "So it's no surprise that the importance of driver and occupant detection systems for accident prevention has become a priority for both the United States and other countries, and a growing imperative for automakers. This is why our pioneering single-camera technology is so significant, as it gives them a cost-effective, high-quality, easy-to-integrate system that detects and spans the entire interior of the car."
Jury noted that most vehicles that offer driver detection today use a camera that focuses solely on the driver. Increasingly, however, the ability to detect the rest of the car's cabin and its occupants has become a fundamental and important safety requirement that is in progress. Most of the solutions on the market need a second camera to focus on the rest of the cabin, making implementation by car brands complicated and expensive. Driver and Occupancy Monitoring with a single camera solves this challenge with technology designed for wide field of view (WFoV) cameras.
DTS AutoSense Single Camera Driver and Occupancy Sensing presented by Xperi:
• Complies with regulations (Euro NCAP and General Safety Regulation – GSR).
• Includes a number of features such as visual distraction (attention zones), manual distraction, activity detection (eating, drinking, talking on the phone and sending texts), hand on the wheel detection, occupants in the seats, age classification (adult, child), body skeleton detection, hand detection, facial recognition, object detection, pet detection, drowsiness and body position classification.
• It can be placed on the central instrument display, better known as CID or under the rearview mirror.
• Dynamically self-calibrates with camera orientation.
• Increases the functionality of the user experience.
• Uses proprietary Artificial Intelligence and machine learning technology to ensure the quality and reliability of sleepiness and attention analysis.
• Understands the driver's state based on all activity, rather than just analysis of the face and eyes.
• It is implemented with the help of state-of-the-art computing without the need for connection to the cloud, this means that it is designed to allow all data to remain in the vehicle.
Recent data show how important vehicle safety and computer vision systems are to consumers to help them stay safe on the road2; in addition, they show distrust in the safety of autopilot vehicles (two-thirds of consumers surveyed do not trust autopilot technology).
"While in-vehicle entertainment becomes more immersive and occupant safety more crucial, switching from driver detection to full cab detection is the next logical step. Automakers are not only focusing on ensuring vehicle safety, but also on improving the experience and comfort inside the car," Jury added. "The pandemic has reinforced the importance of the vehicle and, increasingly, consumers see it as a place of refuge and an extension of the office or living room of their home. Our single-camera detection technology from DTS AutoSense enables automakers to move forward and deliver the security and enhance the in-car experience consumers want."
DTS AutoSense has received industry recognition and was named the first safety choice in 2020 from the CLEPA Innovation Awards; Automotive Technology Solution of the Year from the Auto Tech Breakthrough Awards; and recently won the 2021 AutoSens Award for Most Innovative Application or Implementation of Machine Vision. In addition, Xperi was named North American Company of the Year 2021 by Frost & Sullivan, Connected Car Media Industry and was recognized as one of the top 5 in the Driver Monitoring Systems (DMS) stock market by 2026, as reported in the EE Times.
DTS Connected Car focuses on transforming the automotive experience by delivering high-quality multimedia and personalization for the connected car, wrapping the driver in more of their favorite audio content and giving them more confidence through AI-powered in-cab detection solutions, improving the safety and comfort of everyone in the car.
