Most of the traffic accidents were contributed by the driver’s driving attitude. Some can be prevented with self discipline but in certain scenarios, the use of high end technology can further reduce the occurrence or severity of incidents involving human errors. In view of this, Toyota has put much effort in developing a new vehicle safety alert system that able to monitor driver’s condition while on the road. The intelligent system will have capability to detect the driver’s condition change and then trigger an alert signal without delay. All this happen in micro second timeframe so that the driver will have sufficient time to respond before the occurrence of an accident.

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The mechanism behind is a sensitive eye motion camera installed in front of the driver seat that able to detect the eyelids movement accurately. Thanks to its intelligent image processing capability and sophisticated software algorithm. When there is any unusual loss of sight (with detection of upper and lower eyelids), the microcontroller will able to interpret it correctly and alert the driver accordingly. As compared to current detection system that only sense body positioning, this one seems to be able to provide better accuracy with less false alarm.

Similar to CWAB developed by Volvo earlier, the new technology will able to reduce the occurrence of accidents to certain extend. Also, it could become one of the consideration factors before purchasing a new vehicle.