At the Consumer Electronics Show in January 2019, Nvidia announced they would bring artificial intelligence-powered (AI) Level 2+ autonomous driving and smart cockpits to mainstream cars in 2020 through their Nvidia Drive Autopilot. The company says they see industry support from manufacturers like Mercedes-Benz and Volvo to major auto suppliers like ZF and Continental for the software-defined car which contributes to the build-out of the autonomous car market.

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Looking toward the inside of the car, Tamir Anavi, Chief Technology Officer of Eyesight Technologies says his startup wants to make the inside of an autonomous vehicle safer.

Eyesight Technologies’ CabinSense, uses AI computer vision that monitors drivers and is designed to help prevent accidents caused by distracted or fatigued driving through real-time alerts to the driver. The Israeli company has raised 45.9 M from private investors and China’s Jebsen Capital, Arie Capital, Mitsui, CEVA and Kuang-Chi.

“The car’s external sensors combined with computer vision and AI are crucial for autonomous cars to be able to ‘see’ and ‘understand’ the road, while computer vision and AI inside the car allow to us to increase the safety of the passengers,” said Anavi. “In-cabin sensing allows carmakers to adjust safety features in real-time according to data, the number of passengers, their age and gender as well as state of driving such as wearing a seatbelt, sitting properly, body pose, etc.,” said Anavi.

Anavi says that once fully autonomous vehicles become a reality, people may get a false sense of safety and stop wearing seatbelts or sit in unsafe positions. “Without attendants, as we have on planes, the car systems will be responsible for reminding passengers to wear their seatbelt sand otherwise sit safely,” added Anavi.

“Communications and synchronization need to happen not only within an autonomous car and its systems, but also between cars on the road, and between the cars and the city and infrastructure,” said Anavi. “Once these systems can speak the same language and communicate data in real-time between each other, the roads will become a safe and efficient place.”

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