Cars 'read' driver's mood

That is the technology developed by Affectiva that helps the car detect the driver's mood and thereby give appropriate warnings.

Many drivers drive in a state of anger or distraction, which is dangerous. A car that can "read emotions" can help the driver regain focus or intervene in the driving process.

Future cars could understand their drivers' emotions.

Affectiva's technology is based on a camera system that focuses on observing the driver's face with 33 pre-defined landmarks. Based on the changes in the landmarks, the system will compare with 5 million facial models in different emotions and then react to the driver.

To collect that huge database of facial patterns in different emotions, Affectiva developed a network in 75 different countries.

During a presentation at Nvidia’s GPU Technology Conference in San Jose, Affectiva CEO Abdelrahman Mahmoud explained that facial expressions vary from country to country and culture to culture. For example, Thai people tend to smile more discreetly than people from other countries.

Based on the changes in facial landmarks, the Affectiva system can read human emotions.

According to Mr. Abdelrahman Mahmoud, reading the driver's emotions will help reduce traffic accidents. When the car knows that the "owner" is in a bad mood, it can automatically switch to a less dangerous driving mode (slow down, move to a separate lane...) and even take control in an emergency.

Mahmoud said Affectiva is currently working with a number of German and Japanese automakers, although he did not reveal much about the company's customers, but a prototype using the technology will be launched next year.

According to Khoahoc.tv