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SPY cameras mounted in car dashboards could warn drivers when they risk
killing other people—or themselves—by falling asleep at the wheel.
The system, which uses eye-tracking technology, can also warn motorists when
they are not paying enough attention to the road ahead.

According to Britain’s Automobile Association, 1 in 10 deaths on Britain’s
roads are caused by drivers falling asleep. The new system, called Facelab,
could help reduce the carnage, claims Alex Zelinsky, chief executive of Seeing
Machines, a spin-off from research at the Australian National University in
Canberra. Facelab’s development was sponsored by Volvo.

The problem with other eye-tracking technologies is that they either involve
cumbersome headgear or are incapable of dealing with real-world situations, such
as when the eyes are momentarily obscured. “This system deals with that,” says
Zelinsky.

Facelab’s two cameras continuously monitor the positions of facial features
such as the ears, nose and chin. The system then calculates where each eye
should be and looks for their whites and irises. By measuring how elliptical the
irises look compared with how they appear in a computer model of the eye it
works out the driver’s angle of gaze.

Zelinksy says that Facelab can calculate where the eyes are looking to within
3 degrees—accurate enough to see if the driver is looking at the road.
People who are about to nod off show characteristic blinking patterns, so
Facelab monitors the frequency of blinking to predict if a driver is getting
dangerously sleepy.

If your eyes are obscured—by sunglasses, for example—Facelab can
use other face data to work out where you are looking, says Zelinksy. “There has
to be an element of guessing,” he says. “Even people make inferences when they
can’t see certain things.” If the system can’t see the eyes at all, then it will
assume that you are looking in the direction your head is facing.

Andrew Howard, head of road safety at the AA, believes loss of concentration
among drivers is a big issue that has not been properly addressed by car
designers. But he warns that the sort of device proposed by Seeing Machines may
encourage some drivers to push their limits. “There is a worry that we will make
them drive for longer distances,” he says.

Zelinsky does not yet know how Volvo intends to use the technology. But he
says it could also be used to monitor the ergonomics of a car’s controls, to
ensure they are ideally positioned. Seeing Machines also wants to use Facelab in
computer games so that players can aim virtual weapons at aliens simply by
looking at them. The irony won’t be lost on safety campaigners who see cars as
lethal weapons.