According to World Health Organization, 25 million people lose their life to fatal road accidents. The majority of these accidents can be attributed to the common mistakes made by drivers or unsuitable state of mind such as drowsiness, fatigue, intoxication, aggravated state of mind, etc. Even beyond obvious distractions, increased cell phone usage for calling or texting exhibits “inattention blindness”, which increases the risk of accidents as it leads to loss of reaction time. Despite regulatory interventions, the accident rates have been skyrocketing, which has created the need for advanced driver monitoring functions.

 

Once considered as a “nice-to-have” or an “extra feature” in automobiles, now the Driver Monitoring Systems have become an instrumental safety feature to ensure passenger wellness. Monitoring the in-cabin vehicle alertness, the Driver Monitoring System (DMS) can detect the earliest sign of drowsiness signals and enhance the in-vehicle experience of drivers. The adoption of sensor technology integrating the external environmental readings can prove to be an indispensable enabler of automotive safety. It is believed that Driver Monitoring Systems can reduce the number of fatal accidents to 50% if they are used as envisioned by car manufacturers. Growing integration of driver monitoring systems in passenger card and increasing number of road accidents are the major driving factors for the growth of global driver monitoring system.

 

Top tech trends in Advanced Driving Monitoring Systems

 

·         Embedded Vision Systems 

Embedded Vision Systems is an integral part of Advanced Driver Monitoring Systems, which offer simplification of the driving process by reducing the driver inattention and distraction. The automotive vision systems provide input warnings for problems like unobserved traffic, lane drifts. The vision systems provide data needed to support a growing array of services such as automatic parallel parking or traffic sign recognition. Nowadays, car manufacturers have begun focusing on dedicated on-chip image processing for automated vision application, capable of processing multiple data simultaneously. 

 

·         Sensors

Modern electronic sensor systems can do everything from monitoring and regulating fuel to diagnosing problems. In recent automobiles, sensors can be used for detecting as well as responding to the changing conditions inside and outside the car so that travelers in the vehicles can move efficiently and safely. Sensors for light detection and ranging offer potent solutions for adaptive cruise control that respond to traffic changes and maintain safe distance during high-traffic stop-and-go driving. More advanced systems can predict a dangerous loss of friction between the road and tire by combining sensor data from anti-lock braking systems, electronic stability control, and tire-pressure sensors.

 

·         Eye-tracking software

Eye-tracking technology is expected to play a major role in fuelling the growth of the Global Driver Monitoring system. The eye-tracking software allows gaze direction, eyelid movement analysis, and facial detection, leading to a wider set of applications for security, distraction, and fatigue detection. In a complex and vibrant driving environment, drivers need to enhance attention to save life and property. Driver monitoring systems continuously monitor the driver’s alertness and generates an alarm when negligence is observed. The unique pupil identification enables detection of the driver’s vigilance even if he/she is sleeping with the eyes open or wearing sunglasses or lens. 

 

·         Camera-based Driver Monitoring Systems

Camera-based Driver Monitoring Systems use a driver-facing camera to evaluate the status of the driver’s alertness while driving the vehicle. If the system detects fatigue or distraction of any sort, it generates an alert or warning. The system even notifies the driver when vehicle-initiated handover is required in some partially automated vehicles.

 

·         Automotive HMI designs 

Even with an improved vision system, sensors, and eye-tracking systems, the success of the Advanced Driver Monitoring System lies in the distraction-free methods. Advancements in touchscreen technology can help to ensure easy interactions during the driving process or when the vehicle is parked. Touch-free HMIs provide mechanisms for driver interaction with the vehicle without the need to remove hands from the steering wheels. Voice-operated systems, projected capacitive touch technologies, and haptic sensor development are some of the advanced automotive HMI features that can fuel the demand for driver monitoring systems. 

According to TechSci research on, “Global Driver Monitoring System (DMS) Market By Vehicle Type (Passenger Car & Commercial Vehicle), By Monitoring Type, By Offering Type, By Component, By Region, Competition, Forecast & Opportunities, 2017 – 2024”, the Global driver monitoring system market is projected to grow from $ 718 million in 2018 to around $ 1.5 billion by 2024, exhibiting a CAGR of over 13% during the forecast period. Anticipated growth in the market can be attributed to rising need to curb road accident fatalities, technological advancements in the automotive industry and increasing awareness about safe driving. Government of several countries are implementing rules and regulations, which are aimed at bringing down fatalities and increasing on-road safety of commuters as safe driving, pedestrian safety and driving comfort are the major concerns for both automakers and users. Growing sales of luxury cars across the globe are further expected to aid global driver monitoring system market, as these cars are equipped with various advanced driver assistance systems, like driver monitoring systems. 

Major developments in Driver Monitoring Systems

·       The giant e-commerce brand, Amazon has decided to install a driver-monitoring system just behind the windshield, which would subject Amazon drivers to constant monitoring. With three cameras pointing outside the vehicle, and the fourth being pointed at the driver, the DMS system will help to detect potentially dangerous situations. For instance, if the driver fails to follow the stop sign, the driver monitoring system will detect it, and issue an audio warning to the driver as well as upload footage to Amazon’s services. Also, if the driver chooses to go too fast or too slow, follow other vehicles too closely, or engage in phone, the Driver Monitoring system will detect the activity and issue an alert. If the driver takes sharp turns, hard-barking, or U-turns, the driver monitoring system will upload the footage on the Amazon cloud without informing the driver.

·      OmniVision released a new ASIC, OAX8000, the first of its kind that integrates neural processing unit with image signal processing unit to support facial tracking explicitly for Driver Monitoring Systems. The new product tracks the driver’s action evaluating the eye movement, eyelid activity, head position utilizing a charged-coupled camera, including an infra-red light, that will be physically mounted on the steering wheel. The new release from OmniVision boosts the trend of Ai-specific processors and low-power systems that could boost the DMS demand and enable full automation.

·       German tech firm Bosch has developed an interior monitoring system for cars that use artificial intelligence and cameras. One of its significant features includes a camera embedded in the steering wheels to detect the alertness of drivers, when their eyes are becoming heavy, or their heads turning towards the rear seats or adjacent seats. Bosch’s system also utilizes the cameras either above or below a car’s rear-view mirror, which can alert the driver for potentially serious issues and thus reduce the risk of fatal accidents.

·      Lucid Motors has introduced its first electric vehicle consisting of hardware, a driver monitoring system, and an ethernet-based infrastructure. And the inclusion of light detection and ranging radar that measures distance with laser light to generate a 3D map of car surroundings makes it stand out from its rivals. The advanced Driver Monitoring system in Lucid electric cars offer blind-spot display, cross-traffic protection, automatic emergency braking, and alerts for distracted drivers.

·       Peterbilt has unveiled the next-gen of its Model 579 truck, which comes with an advanced driver monitoring system including enhanced adaptive cruise control and lane-keeping assist features. The camera-enabled vision around the truck provides vision around the truck at all times including at night and during inclement weather, which lessens the driver’s workload and enhances safety and uptime.

·    Global auto parts supplier Continental AG has introduced a “Road and Driver” that monitors both the driver and traffic in front of the vehicle. The dual camera monitors the alertness level of drivers and monitors the surroundings. The camera provides a holistic model of the environment, a pre-requisite to the deployment of self-driving vehicles. The “Road and Driver camera” is located behind the windshield, above the rear-view mirror of the partially automated vehicles, and faces the driver.

According to TechSci research on “Global Motorcycle ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance System) Market By System Type (Adaptive Cruise Control, Gear Shift Assist, Stability Control System, and Traction control system), By Demand Category (OEM, Replacement), By Region, Competition, Forecast & Opportunities, 2025”, Global motorcycle ADAS market is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of more than 12% during 2020 - 2025, on account of growing concerns for safety among consumers, increasing sales of luxury motorcycles and rising number of technological advancements. Based on system type, the global motorcycle ADAS market is segmented into Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), Stability Control System, Adaptive Traction Control and Gear Shift Assist. ACC assists in increasing the efficiency based on performance and offers other feature advantages, which are better than the traditional cruise control system.”