Great! Now even the car can detect my emotions! And maybe is able to make a diagnosis! And maybe to call the Police with the message: Driver in the car with license plate (...) is angry and drive fast! Is not like that...yet...

The next generation of driver monitoring system of Lexus and Toyota will be able not only to detect the driver's face in many more cases than at present but set to where you are turning the attention much more accurately: it might be able to detect your emotions.

Currently only one automaker offers a driver monitoring system based on machine vision. This is Toyota, which since 2006 includes one of these systems in the Lexus LS -Lexus is a subsidiary of Toyota. Other manufacturers offer systems that seek to identify abnormal emotional states primarily driver-fatigue and drowsiness, but do so based on parameters such as movement of the steering wheel or the relative position of the car on rail lines.

The Lexus LS system, called the Driver Monitoring System uses a small camera mounted on the steering wheel and assisted by six infrared light LEDs. The assembly is housed within a discrete 'hood' of plastic located on the top of the driver airbag cap. The purpose is to detect and point the camera towards the driver's face. When the radar detects an obstacle in front and the driver's face is not looking forward pre crash system warns the driver of the LS at an earlier stage, almost four seconds, when the face is directed forward.

But the system has certain limitations. Talking to Tjar Kreuzinger, head of security technology in the Toyota technology center in Belgium, I told him that, driving the LS, I never shoot that early warning.

- "I drove for quite a while with my face turned, looking obliquely and rapidly approaching by the car in front and I've never noticed anything," I say.

- "Well, the truth is it takes some time to have it turned on. Also, when we brought it to Europe we found that the recognition in the case of the Caucasian race is not as good as with oriental features, for the least defined of the eyes, "he explains. "To prove what we did at the time was to print a mask with the face turned and drive it ...".

For the next generation of the pre-crash system and to better assess the "situational awareness" of the driver, Toyota is developing a much more accurate, it will also be able to function in situations where it does today-such as with strong backlighting or when something blocks partially the camera view.

The key to this is to be able to establish the position of many more points on the driver's face: the next system will identify more than 250 points characteristic of the human face, making a three-dimensional model in real time of the driver's face.

In fact, the model will be so accurate that Toyota hope to go a little further and are experimenting with the possibility of setting the mood of the driver through the expression on his face. This would decide whether he is happy, angry, surprised, sleepy or scared and adjust accordingly the behavior of pre-collision warning system of the vehicle.

An example: imagine a driver with a clear aspect that leads to the focus on the road and, at some point, you have to stop because another driver decides to change into your lane directly in front of him. In this case, the pre collision system not warn the driver, or would do so but little 'invasive', by a control or similar. However, if the same thing happen while someone is driving very angry, which leads then looking out the window may berating another driver, who has not passed... the system will warn if the car is detected to invade the circulating lane.

In fact, not only could change the advance notice, but also the type of alert and even preventive measures. In the former case, a small slowdown warning might be timely to alert a drowsy driver, while a deeply excited react to any kind of notice. "One of the things that are clear in terms of driver behavior is that over 90% of cases, reacts positively to an announcement," said Tjar.

As you can see in the video, we had occasion to test a prototype in the TME, Belgium. The location of the face is excellent in all situations. The green points are those that the system is located on the 3D model of face. The lines on the graph represent the flicker and movement of the eyebrows. As for the detection of emotions, which reflects the smiley face, Toyota system is accurate for smile and anger, but fail miserably when we were angry. "The key is to frown," helps me Tjar. But ... maybe what happens is because the system don't work pretty well, I'm a lousy actor, or both.

via:autofacil.es