Smart Eye AB (publ) announced a collaboration with ams OSRAM, a global leader in optical solutions, to deliver a new technology that will allow driver monitoring systems (DMS) and occupant monitoring systems (OMS) to detect the driver and passenger status and position more accurately than ever before. The ICARUS: Structured Light Evaluation Kit is a proof-of-concept that leverages existing architecture inside a vehicle to efficiently and cost-effectively provide high-performance 3D sensing capabilities for driver monitoring and Occupant Monitoring. Driver monitoring continues in importance as it is a key factor in helping to create a safer road environment.

Through monitoring the driver ´s actions, technology in the vehicle could be able to determine if the driver is tired or distracted and send a warning. In addition, it can provide more driving comfort, which in turn often leads to less distraction. ICARUS combines Smart Eye interior sensing software with AO's dot illumination technology to generate a more accurate depth map of the driver using a structured light method.

AO's dot illuminator installs on top of conventional flood illumination mechanisms, and when integrated with Smart Eye's Human Insight AI-driven software, the DMS can support valuable new features with high precision including augmented reality heads-up display (AR-HuD), secure driver authentication, and advanced body position to further enhance road safety by delivering inputs to airbag deployment decisions and pre- crash safety measures. ICARUS is simple, easy to install, and serves as a low-cost upgrade for existing near infrared-based DMS hardware. It only requires the addition of an AO dot illuminator to function.

By building the evaluation kit to be compatible with existing 2D architecture, Smart Eye and AO provide automotive OEMs and Tier One suppliers with the maximum amount of value without overhauling an entire system.