While vehicles with limited autonomous functionality are already hitting roads in the US, the technology is not mature enough to completely do away with human drivers. Current rules mandate that a driver must be ready to take control of an semi-autonomous vehicle within a moment’s notice.
While driver monitoring systems already exist, modern examples are typically limited to detecting driver fatigue and make minimal use of camera image data.
“Our technology not only enables us to identify facial features but also the current poses of the driver and the passengers,” said Fraunhofer researcher Michael Voit. “We can then determine from these poses what the driver and passengers are currently doing.”
The team developed machine-learning algorithms that can analyse the camera data in real time to find out whether the driver is on the phone, playing with children or looking at a smartphone.
The technology is capable of going beyond simple image recognition...