Technology is being developed to track and monitor every tiny movement of a car’s driver and its passengers.
Radar, lasers and cameras are making their way inside cars with the intention to keep occupants safe and make controlling the vehicle even easier than normal.
A plethora of firms are employing millimetre-wave radar which has such a small wavelength it can take highly detailed measurements.
They are working on various applications which involve measuring biometrics, tracking respiration and heart rate, identifying males, female and pets.
It also opens up a wealth of possibilities to control a car’s features using only gestures and even by just looking at them.
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Radar, lasers and cameras are making their way inside cars with the intention to keep occupants safe and make controlling the vehicle even easier than normal. A plethora of firms are employing millimetre-wave radar
US-based firm Texas Instruments uses a mounted device to identify people in the car and classify them as a woman or a man (pictured)
US-based firm Texas Instruments uses a mounted device to identify people in the car and classify them as a woman or a man.
It is also able to spot the presence of pets and, with enough developments in computing ability, it would be able to detect bodily functions such as respiration.
Start-up Caareys has built two systems that utilise radar, with one performing analysis of heart rate, breath rate and driver health condition while its other project counts the number of passengers and positioning of them.
Biometrics and the information this provides is also being integrated into cars.
British firm B-Secur is working on technology that will place medical-grade sensors inside a car’s steering wheel to monitor a person’s unique cardiac rhythm.
BMW claims drivers will soon be able to look outside the car windscreen at a restaurant they are passing and learn its menu, opening hours and even book a table. BMW claims drivers will be able to look outside the car windscreen at a restaurant they are passing and learn its menu, opening hours and even book a table (artist’s impression)
Start-up Caareys has built two systems that utilise radar, with one performing analysis of heart rate, breath rate and driver health condition while its other project counts the number of passengers and positioning of them
Gaze recognition will be available to customers for the first time in the BMW iNEXT as of 2021 alongside improved gesture and voice recognition in a package the German car manufacturer is calling Natural interaction
British firm B-Secur is working on technology that will place medical-grade technology inside a car’s steering wheel and monitor the driver’s unique cardiac rhythm. This could also be used as a ‘key’ to the device, only opening following the detection of the heartbeat of the owner
An embedded electrocardiograph (ECG) will be able to track a person’s physical well-being based on their individual and unique heart signature.
Cars of the future will be able to use this information to detect any anomalies that could lead to excessive stress, fatigue and even cardiac arrhythmias.
This could also be used as a ‘key’ to the device, only opening following the detection of the unique heartbeat of the owner.
BMW unveiled gaze recognition technology at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona earlier this year that will let drivers control the inside of the car using only their eyes.
A high-definition camera mounted in the dashboard will track a customer’s head and eyes to precisely identify what they are looking at – either inside or outside the car.
BMW claims drivers will be able to look outside the car windscreen at a restaurant they are passing and learn its menu, opening hours and even book a table.
Google’s Soli project. It identifies subtle finger movements using radar built into tiny microchips. Google says it allows users to press an invisible button between the thumb and index fingers
Gaze recognition will be available to customers for the first time in the BMW iNEXT as of 2021 alongside improved gesture and voice recognition in a package the German car manufacturer is calling Natural interaction.
Cameras may soon also come equipped with the same technology found in Apple’s FaceID system thanks to advancements in vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSEL).
This could one day be integrated with cars to reveal a range of information on who is inside a car.
This level of non-physical interaction with a car’s controls is being taken a step further by Google’s Soli project.
It identifies subtle finger movements using radar built into tiny microchips.
Google says it allows users to press an invisible button between the thumb and index fingers or operate a virtual dial that turns by rubbing a thumb against the index finger.
Camera-based sensors are already available, such as Leap Motion, that can capture gestures, but these are cumbersome and require additional hardware.
Earlier this year, it received permission from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to allow the technology to work at higher power levels.
The FCC said the decision ‘will serve the public interest by providing for innovative device control features using touchless hand gesture technology.’
