Posts by: Kevin Massy

Toyota develops eyelid-monitoring system

Kevin Massy | Jan 23, 2008

If BMW's rumbling steering wheel, Infiniti's Lane Departure Prevention system, and Volvo's coffee-break alert are not enough to keep you awake at the wheel, then Toyota may have developed just the thing for you.

According to a recent announcement, Toyota has developed an enhancement to its Pre-Crash safety system that can determine whether or not a driver's eyes are open.

The system relies on a driver-monitoring camera and image-processing computer, which determine the position of the driver's upper and lower eyelids. The development follows Toyota's existing face-monitoring technology--available on the Lexus LS600h--which tracks the orientation of the driver's face and sounds a warning if it detects a sustained period of inattention.

The eye-monitoring system is scheduled for launch in Japan "in the near future", according to Toyota.

Via Crave CNET (Source: Just Auto)

Filed under: Future Tech
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Cell phones help reduce traffic accidents!

Kevin Massy, CNET.com | Apr 18, 2007

We've heard plenty of stories recently about how cell phones can visit all manner of disasters on the human race, from rendering us infertile to burning our houses down, not to mention the death and destruction that they wreak on the roads.

So it's about time we got a good news story about the world's favorite gadget. Nissan announced today that it is working on a program that will enable cell phones to communicate with their cars in order to reduce the risk of the pedestrians being knocked down. Nissan's Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) uses 3G cellular communications networks to collect GPS data on the position of mobile-phone wielding pedestrians in relation to cars on the road. If the system detects that a pedestrian is directly in the path of a vehicle, it will alert the driver of a potential accident by activating a visual or audible warning in the cabin.

The pedestrian-location system is part of a wider trial of new technologies that Nissan is conducting in partnership with Japanese wireless company NTT Docomo in Kanagawa prefecture near Tokyo, so don't expect it to be available on your next Sentra. If the technology does make it to production, however, it raises some interesting questions about the idea of banning gadgets in order to protect pedestrians from traffic accidents.

Via CNET Crave

Filed under: Mobile Phones
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