An app to keep you from falling asleep at the wheel

Developed by four students uses face recognition software, tells where the next coffee shop is

The next time you yawn after having driven for hours, an app on your mobile phone will be able tell you where the nearest coffee shop is, to wake you up.

This app is the brainchild of four engineering students at Bengaluru’s PES University — Akshay Kumar, Saahil Kamath, Rahul B Prakash and Aviral Joshi — who met during an internship project at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and had an idea: What if road accidents could be reduced using technology?

It prompted them to develop a mobile-app based technology that can alert drivers if they yawn, get distracted or feel sleepy at the wheel. 

The already patented image recognition and artificial intelligence-based system will be available at prices up to 80 per cent less than a similar device once available in high-end cars. The price of the system for individual cars with service support is likely to be between Rs 9,000 and Rs 13,000. 

“We wanted to make something that could enhance the driver’s performance and reduce the risk of accidents at an affordable cost. Currently, such a feature cannot be found with other key features in one car; only some high-end cars have it,” says Saahil Kamath, co-founder of VISIO AI, the start-up formed by the four students. The main objective of their project was to reduce accidents caused by drivers’ faults. 
 

Kamath explains that as soon as the driver enters the car, his or her face would be recognised and authenticated. If any distraction is found, alerts would be sent depending on the magnitude of the distraction. 

It took the four students one-and-a-half months to develop the prototype; now they are working to manufacture supporting devices. 

“Two or three people drive one vehicle. We need to analyse distractions of each of the drivers. So, first the system recognises who the driver is and makes a separate dashboard for that person,” says Kamath. 

Besides the primary objective of making the experience of driving better and their technology publicly available, it could be important for cab aggregators because of its driver authentication feature. Their start-up has been contacted by a key cab aggregator, says Kamath. 

Analysts say such a technology, if enhanced, may be used for several other purposes such as security for cab aggregators or collecting drunken driving data for the traffic police. 

“This can prove to be a bigger opportunity as it seems as good as one of the connected car technologies,” says Sunil Padmanabhan, an independent start-up advisor and digital strategist. “If it can recognise the iris, it can also help ensure security for cab users or keep tabs on drunken driving. The traffic police can also use it to create a database of drunken driving cases.” 

Kamath says that while they are flexible in customising service models for cab aggregators, VISIO AI is not looking at a technology transfer.