OMRON Creates World’s First Onboard Sensor with AI

Just recently, OMRON Corp. has kicked off development of the world’s first-ever onboard sensor with the “driver concentration sensing technology”, which merges OMRON’s proprietary image sensing technology with advanced AI to sense the different conditions and motions of drivers, and hence figure out if they are in a condition suitable for safe driving.

With a vision of realizing collision-free automated driving and other advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), the company has devoted itself to making the motorized society safer and more secure by revolutionizing relationships between people and machines.

In recent years, there have been a number of cases where the driver’s condition changed abruptly and hence made it difficult to continue driving, as well as an increasing demand for development of technologies that can assist safe driving, and ultimately, automated driving. Against this background, OMRON’s development team has been working on safe control technology for cars that helps determine whether the driver’s condition is suitable for safe driving.

The company’s driver concentration sensing technology utilizes an onboard camera for real-time detection of whether the driver is in a suitable condition for driving. A blend of OMRON’s proprietary high-precision image sensing technology and advanced “time-series deep learning” AI technology, this cutting-edge system enables the control of a vehicle based on the driver’s condition by, for instance, safely switching between automated and manual driving and safely bringing the vehicle to a stop in the event something happens to the driver. Hence, this effectively assists safe driving and enhances the safety of the motorized society.

OMRON targets having an onboard sensor featuring this technology implemented for such applications as automated driving vehicle models to be unveiled from 2019 to 2020.