Some Canadian researchers are developing a kind of high-tech back-seat driver that keeps an eye on motorists and makes sure they’re paying attention to the road.
But it’ll ride right up front, perhaps on the dashboard.
Technology developed at the University of Waterloo in Ontario can tell if a driver’s texting or doing something else that’s a distraction from driving, said Fakhri Karray, a UW professor of electrical and computer engineering.
The technology uses cameras and artificial intelligence to follow the movements of a person’s head, hands and other movements to assess whether a person is paying attention. The machine then assesses the degree of inattention and what sort of safety threat it poses.
It’s the sort of technology that already plays a key role in the development of autonomous vehicles and could also make driving safer long before we arrive at the point of totally self-driving cars. It’s also the sort of technology that might just intensify the creepy feeling that someone or something is watching you, no matter where you are these days: Are we moving to the day when Big Brother is not just in the black box, but in the passenger seat too?
To read more of the original article, go to The Washington Post.
