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A six-month-old girl died Thursday, Oct. 16, after spending six hours alone in a car parked at Intel's Jones Farm Campus in Hillsboro. The infant's father told police he forgot his daughter was still inside, in her car seat.

(Theresa Myers/The Oregonian)

Intel is unveiling its latest innovations at the International Consumer Electronics Show this week, including a Smart Clip that alerts parents should they forget their baby is in the car.

The device replaces the chest clip on a child car seat and alerts parents via a smartphone app if they walk away from the vehicle with the baby still strapped in, Global News reports. The clip's app also tracks the temperature in the car and the battery supply of the clip.

In October, a 6-month-old girl died after being left in a car for several hours at Intel's Jones Farm campus in Hillsboro. The 38-year-old employee found his daughter unconscious and not breathing after, police say, she spent about six hours in the hot vehicle. She was pronounced dead a short time later.

It's a situation that has played out hundreds of times nationally since the late 1990s, according to researchers. More than three dozen children, on average, die of heatstroke in vehicles in the U.S each year, according to Jan Null, a meteorologist at San Jose State University and national expert in heatstroke deaths involving children and automobiles.

The police investigation into the Oct. 16 death at Jones Farm is ongoing, said Lt. Mike Rouches, a Hillsboro police spokesman. The detective assigned to the case is awaiting a report from the state police crime lab, he said.

Authorities have not released the cause of the baby's death, citing the ongoing investigation. Once the inquiry is complete, the case will be forwarded to the Washington County District Attorney's Office for review.

Intel has not indicated whether this tragedy was a motivator in developing the Smart Clip.

The Smart Clip is still in the prototype phase. The company has not yet announced pricing or availability for the device.

Read more about the Smart Clip

-- Kasia Hall

khall@oregonian.com

503-221-8346

@kasiahall