Caterpillar recently announced that they hope to expend the use of facial recognition software that can detect signs of fatigue in its mining truck drivers.
Facial Recognition Technology Detects Micro Sleep Incidents
With assistance from tech company Seeing Machines, Caterpillar has created a system using a speaker, camera, and lighting system that they say can detect driver fatigue by signs like the position of his head and the closing of his eyes. More specifically, the system is designed to look for symptoms of micro-sleep in drivers.
When the system captures a “fatigue event”, it sends a video clip to Caterpillar’s Illinois-based command center for verification. If the fatigue event is decided to be genuine, the driver is contacted via radio and the driver’s manager is notified. The driver may then receive a “sleep intervention.”
Caterpillar Hopes To Expand Technology To All Mining Trucks World Wide
Caterpillar says that they are only in the early implementation phase with the technology. Since 2015, the facial recognition technology has been installed in about 5000 mining trucks world wide. In that time, they say the system has detected 600 fatigue events, which they estimate to be an 80% decrease from previous years.
They hope to install the technology on all of their 38,000 trucks worldwide soon.
Said one representative from Seeing Machines, “it’s only a matter of time before this technology is in all vehicles, everywhere.”
Caterpillar uses facial recognition software to identify sleepy equipment operators https://t.co/8HofObbKuE pic.twitter.com/9188LdFO2q
— Digital Trends (@DigitalTrends) July 11, 2016
Sources:
Huffington Post
International Business Times
Tech Times