Gordon Stein, CFO of CleanTech Lithium, explains why CTL acquired the 23 Laguna Verde licenses. Watch the video here.
JC, thanks for sharing the "posture nanny cam", of course it is not just about keeping a good posture in the car, the real reason isn't long term back or neck strain, it is a cunning way of making the airbag safer!
By getting the driver to sit straight, and with their back against the chair, with arms on the wheel at 10-2, 9-3 or even 8-4, then the airbag deployment can be optimal, but sit off to one side, curve your back and move your head and chest towards the wheel, the the airbag will have to deploy more gently, which means that it won't absorb the full impact of your momentum, which can mean that you still hit the steering wheel, or your hands may end up striking your body or face, but that would make it sound like your airbag was at fault! OEMs may prefer to talk about helping your posture.
Of course to nag you, they need to know your posture, which means there is a really good algorithm working out where your skeleton is!!
It is a patent that is easy to understand, then kick yourself as you realise what you now can't do when developing a DMS system. This is one of the many improvements that gives Seeing Machines an edge. Control over illumination improves contrast, which makes seeing glints easier (this is for dark eye illumination, hence >3.2° off the camera axis.
This is safer by design as the brightness would be controlled if the image was too bright.
Thanks Seize,
National Express are still happily rolling out Gen 2 to new buses.
Here is the shot with the Gen2 hiding with the sun blinds
https://www.busandcoachbuyer.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/3150987-scaled.jpg
https://www.busandcoachbuyer.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/3150987-scaled.jpg
Colin's most recent post got me thinking.
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/activity:7174377183614771200
Why is he telling/reminding us that BMW is separate DMS and OMS?
Could it be related to Valeo’s recent announcement?
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/activity:7174377183614771200
"#valeo has been awarded ! 🏆
The 1.5 MPix Driver Monitoring System camera, delivering Infrared images compliant with GSRV2 and NCAP, will equip all the car lines of our customer, produced from 2026.
We are proud of this achievement!"
My first thoughts were if SEE are using 2Mpx or 5Mpx cameras now, then this must be for the lower end. But, for pure DMS 1.5 Megapixel is the sweet spot.
The higher pixel counts are required to achieve accurate DMS when the wide angle lens is picking up the passenger too (and the kids in the back), but there are tradeoffs on OMS, the lenses and camera will cost more and need to be flawless at a far wider range, the power of the LEDs must be higher. The volume of data increases with the extra pixels, so the cost of the chips increases and more power means more heat.
Now this is a trade off. The ultimate driving machine has taken the cost and processing of two separate systems which will give the ultimate DMS.
Now I wonder who Valeo will be supplying with their DMS to *all the car lines of our customer*
I woke up at 5am excited for the RNS, that is "the power of dreams"
Thanks JC.
Nice patent, use eye gaze etc to keep track on how regularly you are checking the phone wherever is is in the car
I wonder why Seeing Machines suddenly need a new monitoring centre?
.., you would almost think there is demand for Guardian, and not just in English speaking areas!
I think there is a new Guardian monitoring centre starting in Mexico City. Seen several posts, not much individually but together they add up.
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/activity:7167955054170238976
Then I found this
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/activity:7136038510418919424
In the past, there were a series of "unintended acceleration" issues that resulted in recalls and court cases for Toyota. Often this was the driver accidentally hitting the accelerator rather than the brake, then pressing the "not brake pedal" even harder compounding the problem.
So this is a natural extension, if the vehicle is steering itself, and the wheel moves - a simple way to see if it was intentional is to see what the drivers eyes were doing at the time
Thanks JC,
Of course the key parts of this patent are tying in the video conferencing with the DMS , so the display cuts out at a speed threshold and the DMS and safety are linked in to controlling the use of the application so that the when required the drivers attention is protected
Thanks JC, I have been waiting a long time for this one to appear, it has been listed in the Australian IP list for some time.
Seize, this isn't necessarily about Magna - remember, it will stop Gentex or others from using this approach - if they want to pay to license it they can - but that would not be connected to Seeing Machine's DMS or OMS in a mirror, since that is still exclusive to Magna.
Current approaches have a light sensor facing the cabin and a sensor facing the windscreen, that causes constraints on the space between the mirror and the outside view - that is why the top centre of the windshield that is behind the mirror is clear or partially shaded - but it has to be consistent. Break your windscreen and change that area and your auto dimming mirror no longer has the correct thresholds. Same problem if the sensor is directly attached to the windscreen inside the mirror mount - you need to add a new clear window area to the screen print on the windscreen, and you need to add another set of wires through the movable mirror joint.
Automakers love to add features, but to retain a handle on costs as features moved down through through the range, they need to centralise where they can - so if your OMS camera replaces a load sensor in the seats to know whether or not to warn that the the seat belt sensor says it is unplugged - now you can remove 2 sensors and add value by estimating the size, weight and position as well as whether the seat belt is worn correctly. Removing a few sensors in the mirror, directly saves on a the cost and space of the sensors, plus the basic ECU that decoded the thresholds and drove the opacity control - now these can be added to the DMS/OMS processor as a tiny background task - no additional wiring to connect to seat sensors and seat belts, the windscreen has been simplified and that makes the whole supply chain more efficient
Seize,
Google "fdm1ccm1e" make sure to keep the quotes as you need exact match
You will find a presentation from Xylinx's Chinese website from Seeing Machines in Jan 2021
You will see a nice picture of the Fovio chip.
You will also find a page on Marclines that is a teardown of the Ford F-150. I didn't bother to pay, but if Google has seen past the paywall I believe that is a good match.
What if the Airbag supplier was only paid if there is a crash or the sunroof vendor only got paid when the cover was retracted? Paul wouldn't be letting OEMs sign that sort of contract.
With Ford, they contract with a Tier1 who provide a camera, lights and mount. There is some cabling to a metal box the size of a paperback. That contains a Xylinx FGPA chip and a copy of the Seeing Machines software that then links into the car's communications bus.
If the hardware is installed, then an alternative steering column cover is required. If the car has multiple colours for the interior, then you may need to stock more varieties x2.
Supporting multiple variations of hardware and trim colours soon gets expensive. If you run out of dark grey trim with the DMS slot you can't make the car. JIT reduces this issue, but variety still costs. This is normally addressed by packaging features together.
This is an example, but you can see it happening in various models, but the details will change.
Base model light grey interior only, no DMS (initially)
Next level up light grey interior only DMS optional, so need 2 covers.
Middle to top. DMS is included by standard or optional-but always installed. 3 trim colours all will have the DMS slot
Now the top models costs >100k and gets BlueCruise as standard. But you pay to use it
Moving down the range, initially they were optional installs, but now they are installed for 'free' in every car, but you have to pay to use them.
Bottom of the range, if it is not mandatory they won't fit it, this is the bargain basement version and these customers are price sensitive at initial purchase and would be a low take up of subscriptions.
OEMs don't install the hardware for free and get away with not paying their suppliers. They are making a bet that the total cost of hardware, minus the savings in the supply chain and a installation from removing variety will we outweighed by the income that a % of customers will pay for the feature in the initial x months.
So free trial or not, if it is in the car at production time Seeing Machines get their cut. This is happening to more models across the range and in Europe it is mandatory in all models soon anyway
Bonzoful, repeat after me
"I won't get excited about a new sensor, until I have checked the resolution"
700 x 700 won't work for auto. That is head mounted or endoscopy.
Thanks JC, but that is another example of trying to patent the crumbs, because someone already patented the cake
I don't think I need to add much to this one, we have all seen the demos at CES or before hand with Out of Spec reviews.
But I will say, thanks JC for all your digging
Has anyone seen a design win by Melexis or Eyeris.
Cipia have cornered the market for Chery and a handful of those models may arrive in Europe, but not exactly world beating
Bonzoful,
These cameras are no use to Seeing Machines. 800 x 700 pixel resolution is too low for our Automotive use case. These are designed for glasses or Head mounted AR /VR eye tracking
Seems a strange way to do this patent, it is for a system to check for at least one hand on the wheel when approaching a dangerous area.
They describe stereo cameras, 3d depth perception, gaussian blurring then ellipse detection to find the steering wheel, then looking for occlusion of the wheel.
It would be easier to have capacitive touch steering wheel and combine with DMS without needing stereo vision as the 3d posing engine can verify where the arms are with more confidence, but perhaps that wasn't patent able?
This is nothing special, just 3d holograms with touch screens. I deal for receiving messages from Princesses or for viewing death stars.
Not sure when this will turn up in a vehicle rather than in a movie. But it does need eye tracking for each occupant so we know that part of the technology is real and possible.
Thanks JC