Cars could soon monitor our EMOTIONS: Device reads facial expressions to prevent road rage

Scientists at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland, developed the system, which could boost road safety



Prototype identifies a driver's emotions using an infrared camera placed behind the steering wheel to film their face

Device is being developed with PSA Peugeot Citroën and researchers are also working on a fatigue detector measuring eyelid closure

Car manufacturers are always looking for ways to make driving safer



And in the future, dashboard emotion detectors could search for signs of irritation in a bid to identify the first signs of road rage.



A prototype of the device is able to read a driver’s facial expressions using a tiny embedded camera.

Scroll down for video

Scientists at École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland, developed the prototype device, which identifies a driver's emotions - including anger (pictured) - using an infrared camera placed behind the steering wheel to film their face

Scientists at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland, have developed the system which identifies which of the seven universal emotions a person is feeling: fear, anger, joy, sadness, disgust, surprise, or suspicion.



They believe their technology could be of use in medicine, marketing, gaming and in driver safety.



‘We know that in addition to fatigue, the emotional state of the driver is a risk factor, the researchers said.



‘Irritation, in particular, can make drivers more aggressive and less attentive,’ they added.



The scientists worked with PSA Peugeot Citroën to create the prototype, which had to overcome the challenge of measuring emotions in the confines of a small space without distracting the driver.

Researchers at EPFL's Signal Processing 5 Laboratory came upon the idea of adapting a facial detection device for use in a car by using an infrared camera placed behind the steering wheel. Here, the device shows a driver with a 'neutral' expression

Researchers at EPFL’s Signal Processing 5 Laboratory came upon the idea of adapting a facial detection device for use in a car by using an infrared camera placed behind the steering wheel.



‘The problem was to get the device to recognise irritation on the face of a driver,’ they said, because everyone expresses this emotional state differently.



Research leaders Hua Gao and Anil Yüce chose to track only two expressions: anger and disgust, whose manifestations are similar to those of anger.



Irritation makes drivers more aggressive and less attentive (stock image) and while the researchers wanted to track this emotion, it was difficult to develop a system that could do this, which could also fit into a small space without distracting the driver

The system first learned to identify the two emotions using a series of photos of subjects making corresponding facial expressions and then the same exercise was carried out using videos.



Using this system of learning, the device could accurately detect irritation in most cases and when it failed it was because of an individual’s way of displaying anger.



The scientists will aim to create a system that can work in real-time with a more advanced facial monitoring algorithm.



The team is also working on a fatigue detector that measures the percentage of eyelid closure, which could one day be used to develop a safety system to stop people falling asleep at the wheel.



They are also striving to detect distraction and on using lip reading and voice recognition, to give more of a clue to a driver’s mental state.

Volvo has launched a revolutionary safety device that scans for cyclists (pictured) and automatically brakes if a collision is imminent

AND VOLVO ADDS A SCANNER THAT APPLIES THE BRAKES WHEN IT DETECTS A BICYCLE SWERVING INTO A CAR

Volvo has launched a revolutionary safety device that scans for cyclists and automatically brakes if a collision is imminent.

The Swedish car firm says the camera and radar-guided technology, which is being introduced into cars from May, could save hundreds of lives.

The system comprises a radar scanner in the grille, a camera fitted in front of the rear-view mirror, and an onboard computer. It allows the car to identify cyclists who swerve into its path and reacts by slamming on the brakes.

The driver is given a loud audible warning and a visible warning of a row of red lights flashing up on the windscreen.

The new cyclist detector system comprises a radar scanner set into the car’s grille, a camera fitted in front of the rear-view mirror, and a computerised central control unit.

The radar measures the distance to any suspicious object while the camera compares its shape and size against an electronic visual catalogue of thousands of images – including bicycles and cyclists. It can even differentiate between a pedal cyclist and a motor cyclist.