DMS/OMS: Automotive Zeitenwende

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, touched off a remilitarization of Europe prominently led by Germany.?Germany’s Chancellor, Olaf Schotz, delivered an address to the Bundestag on Feb. 27 last year, now known as the “Zeitenwende speech,” in which he said his government would use a €100B fund to significantly increase military spending.

Russia’s attack was a Zeitenwende – a watershed or turning point – for the world and for Germany.?In the same way, the European automotive industry is experiencing its own Zeitenwende in the form of new regulations calling for in-vehicle driver monitoring systems.

There is a notable irony in the fact that regulators are stepping up requirements that drivers pay attention and participate in the driving of the vehicle even as collision avoidance technology and autonomous vehicle tech is proliferating. The bottom line clearly is that human drivers are difficult to replicate or replace.

The real world implications of these new automotive requirements in Europe were clear to all attendees of the We-Conect InCabin Sensing event held in Berlin last week.?New cars sold in Europe must now come with driver monitoring systems intended to detect distracted driving or other impairments in the interest of reducing highway fatalities.

Europe is leading the way with this Euro NCAP (New Car Assessment Program) five-star requirement.?Speakers at the InCabin Sensing event noted implications ranging from the potential for the use of facial recognition and driver credentialing to enable in-vehicle commerce, to the wider development and adoption of emotion detection systems, and, ultimately, the wider use of gesture recognition technology in cars.

Of course, emergency responders to car crashes will benefit as well.

In fact, the onset of in-cabin cameras and its potential to alter human-machine interactions in the car was likened by Gestigon’s CEO speaking at the InCabin event to Apple’s introduction of the Vision Pro and its range of gesture and eye-tracking interfaces.

The introduction of cameras in vehicle cabins is very much a turning point for auto makers as it challenges assumptions of privacy when using a motor vehicle and introduces obligations on the part of auto makers to more fully disclose their vehicle data collection and preservation (and destruction) policies and obtain appropriate consent from drivers.?Like it or not, car makers are now required to observe customers driving their cars and, more importantly, to enable their vehicles to alert those drivers in the event of distraction or incapacitation.

This was made particularly clear by the multiple speakers focusing on the detection of drivers’ emotions.?A research fellow from General Motors R&D in Herziliya, Israel, noted the identification by researchers of the seven basic emotions that are consistent and facially manifested across all cultures: joy, surprise, contempt, sadness, anger, disgust, and fear.

Car makers are being forced to consider what it means to know how drivers – and passengers, perhaps – are feeling as they drive and interact with vehicle systems.?This is a fundamental change in the relationship between the car owner and the car maker.

Do people like their cars??Do moods change when people are driving??Is driving increasing or reducing stress??Does the car play a role in reducing or increasing stress?

How are customers reacting to new features and functions in the car??Which driving experiences are increasing or reducing stress and the all important customer satisfaction?

Is it enough to observe the driver’s face to determine emotional state??Some researchers believe that additional contextual inputs are necessary to accurately determine the driver’s state of mind – i.e. gestures and/or speech.

What was clear from the comments of several experts in their talks, in the audience questions, and in conversations at the event, is that these are very early days in the emotion detection business for auto makers.?The conventional wisdom is that auto makers are collecting and analyzing this information but don’t really know what to do with it.

This is an oversimplification of the state of the technology.?The top priority for auto makers is to make the automobile – as much as possible – a stress-free or stress reducing environment.?In cabin sensors – including cameras as well as time-of-flight (TOF), radar, lidar, and audio – are increasingly able to collect a wide range of metabolic indicators – ranging from temperature and respiration to skin coloring.

Whether we like it or not, our bodies, our faces, our skin, our breathing, are all telling a story to any sensor intended to collect and interpret the data.?The pressure is clearly on to decode the data that might unlock customer delight and to put this data to work.

How are consumers in cars reacting to safety systems, infotainment systems, heating and air conditioning??Are consumers in cars experiencing and expressing “joy” or “disgust?”

The We-Conect event was indeed a Zeitenwende for the automotive industry.?No participant who attended the event can unsee or unhear the thought provoking insights shared by industry researchers.

There is no magic key to the emotion detection kingdom.?Researchers from universities to the car makers themselves are working to better understand this new world of in-cabin sensing.?In the end we should all benefit from systems better designed to make in-vehicle systems delightful to use and to de-stress the experience of driving a car.?In the end, someone will no doubt put a price tag on that – and plenty of consumers will be willing to pay.

Humintell "Seven Basic Emotions" - https://www.humintell.com/2010/06/the-seven-basic-emotions-do-you-know-them/