{"id":91322,"date":"2015-03-24T11:51:14","date_gmt":"2015-03-24T15:51:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/?p=91322"},"modified":"2015-03-24T11:52:56","modified_gmt":"2015-03-24T15:52:56","slug":"opel-keeps-an-eye-on-your-eyes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/2015\/03\/opel-keeps-an-eye-on-your-eyes\/","title":{"rendered":"Opel Keeps an Eye on Your Eyes"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Opel wants to let your eyes aim your headlights.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Take a late night walk down a dark country lane and you\u2019re likely to aim your flashlight precisely where you want to look. Imagine having a car that\u2019s equally intuitive.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the idea behind a new system being developed by Opel, General Motors\u2019 European subsidiary, which uses an eye-tracking system to determine exactly where a driver is looking.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Keep an Eye on Us!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been pursuing this concept of controlling the direction and intensity of light based on where the driver is looking for around two years,\u201d notes Ingolf Schneider, the director of lighting technology at Opel. \u201cThe more we understand the benefits of this technology, the more intensively we push ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

Opel is just one of a number of automakers experimenting with eye-tracking systems. Several carmakers are using the technology to help determine when a driver starts to get drowsy. Others are using eye-tracking to better understand how to design automotive interiors.<\/p>\n

(Ford opens up new Silicon Valley R&D center. <\/em>Click Here<\/a> for the story.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Opel\u2019s effort to develop an eye-tracking system is part of a growing industry push to improve vehicle lighting. New systems, such as High-Intensity Discharge, or HID, lamps, LEDs, and even laser lights, have made it possible to double and even quadruple the range of traditional incandescent headlamps. And new active lighting can be coupled to the steering wheel so that the beam of light \u201cturns\u201d in the same direction as the vehicle.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
An illustration shows how the system could aim the high beams where your eyes are looking.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Meanwhile, photocells and camera systems are used on many vehicles to automatically dim high beams to avoid blinding oncoming drivers. More sophisticated systems even can shape a headlight beam to provide more light in the lane ahead while dimming the light that shines onto oncoming vehicles.<\/p>\n

Using an eye-tracking system would allow the headlights to be even more effective at aiming light at the part of the road where the driver needs it most. The challenge is to make the technology simpler, more affordable \u2013 and quick enough to be entirely intuitive.<\/p>\n

(VW aims to take the lead in automotive R&D. <\/em>Click Here<\/a> to see how \u2013 and what that will mean for motorists.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The latest version of the system \u2013 developed as part of a collaboration between Opel and the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany \u2013 now uses a single camera rather than the five to 10 required by earlier eye-tracking technology. The camera uses peripheral infrared sensors and photo diodes that can scan a driver\u2019s eyes more than 50 times a second, even in a pitch-dark automotive interior. New data processing techniques make it possible to read and respond instantaneously.<\/p>\n

But that hasn\u2019t solved all the problems, Opel researchers note. A human eye normally jumps from one point to another quite rapidly. If the headlights were to echo those movements, the beam of light would seem awkward and jerky.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo overcome this problem, we have successfully developed a sophisticated delay algorithm which ensures a suitably flowing movement for the light cone,\u201d says Schneider. \u201cAnother major benefit is that the eye-tracker doesn\u2019t have to be individually calibrated for a particular driver. The system works perfectly with anyone behind the wheel, no matter what their size.\u201d<\/p>\n

The system also can determine if a driver momentarily looks away from the road, perhaps to tune the radio, or to check a navigation system.<\/p>\n

Opel officials still need to work on the eye-tracking system, so a production version is likely a few years down the road. But they are launching a multi-beam LED system that can respond to varying driver inputs, as well as road conditions, automatically. It will be introduced within the next 18 months, likely on 2017 models.<\/p>\n

Eye-tracking technology is expected to play a growing role in the auto industry. Lexus is one of several makers now using a system that can detect if a driver is growing tired, triggering a warning to pull over and get some rest.<\/p>\n

Ford, meanwhile, is using a new eye-tracking system \u2013 paired with brainwave monitoring \u2013 to gauge how potential customers respond to interior design concepts. The technology can follow the path a subject\u2019s eyes follow upon entering a vehicle, while also detecting whether the subject likes the way the interior looks.<\/p>\n

(For more on the Ford eye-tracking research system, <\/em>Click Here<\/span><\/a>.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Walk down a dark country lane and you’ll aim your flashlight precisely where you want to look. Imagine having a car that\u2019s equally intuitive. That\u2019s the idea being developed by Opel, GM\u2019s European subsidiary, which uses an eye-tracking system to determine exactly where a driver is looking. The story from TheDetroitBureau.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":91328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"make":[],"post-state":[],"category_old":[151],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91322"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91322\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91322"},{"taxonomy":"make","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/make?post=91322"},{"taxonomy":"post-state","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post-state?post=91322"},{"taxonomy":"category_old","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category_old?post=91322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}