Smart Eye

Tag: Automotive

  • Blog: Our thoughts on CES 2020

    With CES 2020 less than one month away, Smart Eye is looking forward to discovering which new technological innovations will be showcased in Las Vegas in January.

    Even though CES tends to be a yearly highlight, we expect the upcoming edition will be even more memorable for us than previous years’. Martin Krantz, founder and CEO of Smart Eye, explains why:
    – Smart Eye has been attending via our partners for several years. But now, we will have our own booth and our own display for the first time. What I’m looking forward to the most is the chance to show our innovative products to the entire automotive industry.

    Read full text here.

  • 3 design wins for Smart Eye. New Japanese OEM.

    Smart Eye will deliver Driver Monitoring System (DMS) to a new and existing car manufacturer (OEM). The new OEM is one of Japan’s largest and the second Japanese OEM for Smart Eye, which now cooperates in total with nine OEMs. Smart Eye’s technology will be launched in 3 new car models, and the estimated revenue of the order is MSEK 100, based on forecasts of the estimated product life cycle.

    Read full press release here.

  • The Future of Road Safety: Is the Automotive Industry Finally Ready to Gear Up For a Sustainable Future?

    During the last few years, those of us who like to keep up with car industry developments have gotten to witness the dawn of a very interesting new era. The strict emission standards adapted in Europe and China has even our most established car makers turning down tradition in order to secure their place in the electrification revolution. Ambitious car manufacturers are focusing their production on recyclable materials like aluminum. Asphalt in Los Angeles is even being painted white in order to reduce the heat built up on the city’s boiling streets.

    And it seems these new levels of creativity and dedication are paying off: data presented by the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) shows how the environmental impact of car manufacturing has reduced by nearly 24% from 2008 to 2018, even though the number of cars produced has increased from 11.9 million in 2013 to 17 million in 2017. As long as car manufacturers and consumers alike stay focused on the common goal of developing a world free of fossil-fuelled transport, a greener world and a blossoming automotive industry no longer seems like an impossible equation.

    These developments are incredibly encouraging, and not only because of environmental aspects. It also proves that working hard towards a common goal can produce incredibly innovative ideas. And the car industry is riddled with another issue that leaves no one unaffected: while electric cars help making our world more green, they unfortunately do not save 1.25 million people from dying in traffic accidents every year. By using the same force gathered to develop roads free of fossil fuels, we should aim to also make the world free of human-caused traffic fatalities.

    This goal is what fuels us at Smart Eye. We spend countless hours and focus all of our resources on making sure future roads become not just cleaner, but much safer. At the moment, the automotive industry is unsustainable in more ways than one. The fact that one of our most common modes of transport doubles as the eight most common cause of death worldwide is a problem that demands our immediate attention. Unless we take action, road injuries are expected to have become the fifth leading cause of death by 2030.

    We do not want to be just another tech company. As excited as we are to continue breaking new ground in terms of advanced, AI-based technology, our primary goal will always be to make a long-term difference by improving road safety all over the world. And we believe the path towards safer roads is paved by innovative technology.

    At the end of the day, knowing that the right algorithm can mean another life saved is what really makes all our hard work worthwhile.

  • Eye Tracking Can Prevent the Dream of Self-Driving Cars From Ending in a Deadly Nightmare

    Technology entrepreneur and Smart Eye CEO Martin Krantz explains why eye-tracking technology is critical for realizing the potential of autonomous vehicles.

    It’s hard not to get excited about a world dominated by self-driving cars and thanks to advances in AI and other technologies, several manufacturers are taking steps that will help make that vision a reality. But despite the many advances in self-driving cars, I’m growing increasingly concerned that our shared dream of fully autonomous vehicles is in peril.

    A string of high-profile accidents, combined with some misleading declarations, have raised doubts about the promise of self-driving cars. If we aren’t careful, frightened consumers, angry regulators, and cautious manufacturers could stop more than a decade’s worth of momentum in its tracks.

    A big part of the problem is a lack of understanding about self-driving technology, which has been fed in part by a flurry of articles that have convinced some over-enthusiastic consumers it’s okay for them to take their hands off the wheel.

    What people seem to forget – or never knew in the first place – is that “self-driving” actually encompasses several different levels of autonomy.

    Specifically, the road to fully autonomous driving is divided into a six-level scale (developed by the Society of Automotive Engineers, SAE) where Level 0 refers to no automation and Level 5 refers to total autonomy, the world of robot taxis where we are no longer drivers, but passengers in our own cars.

    ‘Autopilot’ in name only

    It’s easy for the average consumer to be fooled into thinking we’re close to the end of our journey toward a world of fully autonomous cars. But in reality, we are much closer to the beginning of a voyage that will likely take at least another decade.

    Sure, production of the first Level 3 car is not far away, but it will still take years before a critical mass of such vehicles fill our roadways.

    Currently, most cars casually referred to as “self-driving” by the average consumer are only at Level 2 on the SAE scale. They feature advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) that allow drivers to take their hands off the wheel for short periods of time without worrying the car will drift to the next lane.

    But Level 2 vehicles require human drivers to pay attention and be ready to react at any time – something that, tragically, some drivers have failed to understand.

    Sadly, the promise of full autonomy is so captivating, many want to believe it’s closer than it is. As a result, some overzealous drivers are making Level 5 driving decisions in a Level 2 environment – sometimes with deadly outcomes.

    Eye-tracking: a must-have safety feature

    That’s why driver monitoring systems with advanced eye-tracking technologies are more important than ever.

    Smart Eye’s technology, for example, works by combining cameras that capture infrared light signals reflected from the eye’s cornea with advanced software built on intelligent algorithms. This allows our system and others like it to track where drivers are looking and thus determine whether or not their eyes are actually focused on the road.

    By monitoring whether drivers are paying attention even if their cars have autonomous driving capabilities, eye-tracking can prevent drivers from letting their self-driving dreams turn into deadly nightmares.

    The technology is especially important as we move from driving autonomy Level 2 to Level 4, which entails redefining and retraining our driving habits. By warning drivers who are too distracted or fail to keep their eyes on the road, eye-tracking systems should be considered a must-have safety feature for any manufacturer with autonomous driving ambitions.

    Fortunately, automakers are the biggest cheerleaders for helping us reach a truly self-driving future. Many are already working with Smart Eye and others to introduce eye-tracking into new models. Last year we added China’s Geely to the growing list of premium car brands ready to invest in eye-tracking aided autonomous driving systems.

    A safe self-driving transition

    We also mustn’t overlook the massive regulatory, safety, and infrastructure changes involved with the shift to fully autonomous driving.

    The European Commission took an important step forward on this front in May when it announced plans for legislation to require all new cars to be fitted with advanced safety features by the early 2020’s, including systems to monitor drivers. Hopefully, the benefits of eye-tracking technology will be shared by car drivers outside the EU as well.

    Despite my concerns, I remain as excited as the next driver about the promise and possibilities of a fully autonomous future. And it’s a privilege to help contribute to a paradigm shift that will redefine the relationship between human and machine on roads across the world.

    That being said, we want to ensure the transition occurs as safely as possible. We shouldn’t push too hard on the accelerator or let the hype of a self-driving future distract us from keeping our eyes on the road ahead.

    Martin Krantz is co-founder and CEO of Smart Eye, a leading eye-tracking technology provider based in Gothenburg, Sweden.

  • Smart Eye receives additional eight design wins with existing Japanese OEM

    Smart Eye will deliver DMS technology to eight additional car models to one of Japan’s largest OEMs. This is an extension of the two design wins with one of Japan’s and Europe’s largest OEM: s communicated in May this year. The order is now a total of 10 car models with SOP of the first car in 2020. Estimated revenue of the additional eight car models is 200 MSEK based on estimated product life cycle projections.

    “These eight additional design-wins not only prove that our offering continues to stand strong in relation to the growing demand of DMS technology on the world market. It also shows that our momentum on the Japanese market helps to solidify our global market leading position. I am very proud of the team responsible for achieving this outcome” says Martin Krantz, CEO of Smart Eye. 

    Read full press release here.

  • How Affectiva is Building a Responsive and Adaptive In-Cabin Environment

  • Next Generation Vehicles and the Paradox of Automation – How Much Are You Willing to Trust Your Future Car?

    We place a lot of trust in our cars. We rely on them to get us where we need to go on time, and we trust for them to get us there safely. And perhaps most of all, we trust our cars to flawlessly follow our every command – so much we have no concern steering them down a highway at 100 km per hour.

    But how would you feel about putting your own life and the safety of your loved ones completely in the hands of a machine? Would you be able to lean back and close your eyes while travelling 28 meters per second down a heavily trafficked highway?

    The dream of self-driving cars has always been a subject of fascination. But as we are getting closer and closer to turning that fantasy into reality, concerned voices are being raised. Are we placing too much trust in these next generation vehicles?

    Some are dead set on a couple of years, most are thinking more along the lines of decades, but this much is clear: the automotive industry has set course towards developing fully autonomous cars. And when the time comes, we will have to make up our minds about a critical question: just how far does your trust in your car go?

    The five levels of automation

    Despite the hopes of some self-driving enthusiasts, most car manufacturers agree that fully-autonomous cars are quite a few years, or possibly decades, away. But on the way, we will experience gradually increasing levels of automation, starting with the more advanced driver assistance system that are already being explored by innovation-hungry car manufacturers. The different stages of automation are commonly divided into five, or six, levels, ranging from cars with no automation features to fully self-driving vehicles.

    Level 0 – No automation. The car is manually driven by a human at all times.

    Level 1 – Driver assistance. “Hands-on, eyes-on, mind-on”. An active driver is required at all times, but some driver assistance features like speed assist and autonomous emergency braking can help the driver with some aspects of driving.

    Level 2 – Partial Automation. “Hands-on, eyes-on, mind-on”. Level 2 also includes more advanced driver assistance features, such as lane support and lane-keep assistance.

    Level 3 – Conditional Automation. “Hands-off, eyes-on, mind-on”. By level 3, the automation mode allows the car to be self-driving at times, but still requires a human driver to be able to take over when needed. This creates the complicated issue of the “machine-to-human handover”, when the driver needs to be able to quickly retake control of the vehicle.

    Level 4 – High automation. “Hands-off, eyes-off, mind-off”. Cars with level 4 automation can handle all driving situations, and the driver is free to text, close their eyes or do whatever they like.

    Level 5 – Full automation. “Human-off”. By level 5, the car handles all situations, no matter how extreme or unpredictable, at all times. At this point, the steering wheel can primarily be seen as an optional feature.

    Today, 90% of all cars occupying our roads are categorized as level 0, with no automation features. Over the next ten years, level 2 cars are expected to become the largest segment in terms of mass-market vehicles, while fully-autonomous cars are more likely to be decades away.

    Autonomous driving – the key to safe roads or a dangerous experiment?

    To say that the expectations on self-driving cars are high is an understatement. Besides fulfilling a lifelong fantasy for many car enthusiasts, autonomous driving is predicted to revolutionize road safety. There are researchers that claim driverless vehicles could reduce traffic fatalities by up to 90 percent by 2050. According to the World Health Organization, about 1.2 million people die in traffic accidents every year. Putting those two numbers together, we are looking at 10 million lives saved – every decade. Those are numbers that are hard to argue with.

    But as we have already established, flawless driverless cars remain a faraway goal. We still have a long way to go; one that involves increasing levels of autonomy, offering their own risk reductions as well as safety challenges.

    One of the most critical challenges of putting vehicles with conditional automation on the roads is the “machine-to-human handover”. According to a study conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), it took some drivers up to 17 seconds to regain control of a semi-autonomous car as a difficult situation forced it to exit its autonomy mode. In order to fully grasp the security risk presented, 17 seconds equals more than 400 meters for a car traveling close to 100 km per hour. Additionally, the driver’s reaction to the system’s alert was even further delayed when the driver was engaged in other tasks, like typing a text.

    This study demonstrates one of the most pressing causes of concern when discussing self-driving cars. In what is sometimes referred to as the paradox of automation, it seems that the more reliable an autonomous vehicle becomes, the less reliable its driver becomes. The more the driver trusts their car to manage the driving, the worse they are going to handle having to take over responsibility when required to. And this false sense of security has already proven to have potentially fatal consequences.

    One of the most tragic, and most publicized, examples of over-confidence in an autonomous car is a fatal crash in Phoenix, USA. Last year a self-driving car in the form of a test vehicle struck a pedestrian, who later died from her injuries. The vehicle’s safety driver seems to have been streaming TV at the time of the crash, leaving the driving completely to the vehicle.

    This crash is far from the only time an incident involving an autonomous car has cost human lives. For instance, testing of another autopilot system has so far resulted in several fatal crashes attributed to the driver’s over-confidence in the autopilot. So far, it seems like the biggest threat to the development of self-driving and inherently safer cars is, ironically, the human driver.

    The solution

    For all its flaws, it does not seem likely that either car manufacturers or consumers are going to give up on the dream of autonomous cars anytime soon. Nor should they; self-driving vehicles are the promise of both increased traffic safety and a more sustainable transportation industry. But if we are going to be able to trust a machine with our lives, we need to be absolutely guaranteed of its safety.

    The semi-autonomous cars we will become familiar with in the foreseeable future will depend on an attentive driver to take control of the vehicle in situations too complex for the autonomous system to handle. But as demonstrated by recent crashes, human drivers easily become overly confident in the autonomous systems. To avoid that the road towards driverless cars becomes lined by fatal accidents, safety measures need to be taken.

    A reliable driver monitoring system can turn a semi-autonomous vehicle into what it is intended to be, a dependable co-pilot to an attentive human driver, instead of an expensive safety risk. This is why eye tracking-based driver monitoring systems are already being widely adopted by car manufacturers developing vehicles operating at level 1, level 2, level 3 and level 4 autonomy. An advanced driver monitoring system allows for the next generation vehicles to make us better, safer drivers, rather than passive bystanders to a dangerous driving situation.

  • 6 Ways Eye Tracking is Changing the World

    In any field of use, eye tracking already makes using technology more efficient, more sustainable and more accessible. But so far, we have only scraped the surface of what we can accomplish with the help of eye tracking. Ideas that were considered impossible yesterday, are now a part of the day to day life for millions of people. The full impact of eye tracking technology is still ahead of us. Ever wondered what impact eye-tracking has on the world?

  • Our eyes or our minds: What is the key to avoid distracted driving?

    From eye tracking to emotional AI – every company has their own preferred approach for catching distracted driving. To discover which aspect of driver distraction has the most critical effect on driving performance, a group of scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) constructed an experiment.

  • Designing a New Age of Automotive with Unity Interactive Experiences