This rearview mirror can detect if driver is distracted, drowsy 

The international auto industry supplier Magna has just showed off its new driver monitor system during its Tech Day event. Essentially, it’s a driver attention monitoring system that comes in the form of a rearview mirror. 

Magna Driver Monitoring System

Equipped with a camera, this driver-monitoring device watches over a driver’s face. Particularly, it looks for signs of drowsiness from the mouth and the eyes. The shape of the human’s mouth is particularly important because according to Magna, one sign of being sleepy is yawning.

For the eyes, the system will know if you’re looking away when you’re driving. It uses a system timer to count for how long your eyesight is turned away from the road, and if the countdown timer runs out, it will register the driver as distracted. 

It can tell if you're paying attention to the road or not [Photo: Magna]

Beyond the mouth and eyes, the system can even take into account one’s posture and body position. If the system thinks the driver is drowsy, distracted, or both, it will then send out notifications. The same goes when the driver is distracted by gadgets.  

This high-tech driver-monitoring device can also tell who’s driving the vehicle. It's a memory function if you will, which can store different driver profiles, preferences, and even their recorded behavior behind the wheel. 

But why the rearview mirror and not just some camera positioned anywhere inside the car? Well, that’s due to the fact that its position in a cabin is a good vantage point to monitor the driver. It can even monitor other occupants of the car. 

It keeps track of where the driver's eyes and head are pointed 

The demo for Magna’s high-tech rearview mirror was performed at a closed road course at Pontiac, Michigan. It is fitted on a test-bed vehicle, in this case an SUV.  

As for when we get to see this piece of tech in action, then it might be sooner than later. That’s because according to Magna International itself, their drowsiness and attention detection system already meets Europe’s regulations for such devices.  

That means it's just in time because Europe will be implementing laws for driving distraction recognition and prevention rules by July 2024.  

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