"In cabin sensing is the natural evolution of DMS and is seeing increased demand because of its many important applications in safety as well as entertainment, comfort, wellness and beyond. Instead of just focusing on the driver, interior sensing solutions have a full view of the entire cabin. With a camera and other sensors, these systems provide human-centric insight into what’s happening in a vehicle, by detecting the state of the cabin and that of the driver and passengers in it."

"In cabin sensing is such a hot topic because it allows OEMs to not only meet regulatory and rating requirements that are on the horizon, but also sets them up to differentiate their brands in a very competitive market. Also, car manufacturers can expand on cameras, other sensors and machine learning-based algorithms that are already deployed for DMS. Building on that as a foundation, they can often, cost effectively, add advanced safety features and engaging mobility experiences to existing platforms."

"Our focus should always be on advancing automotive technologies to save lives and I love how interior sensing enables several advanced safety features. One important functionality is child and child seat detection, which helps determine if a child is left behind in a vehicle unattended. I am hopeful that this can help avoid tragic deaths due to vehicular heatstroke. And, as anyone who has driven around with kids or for that matter, pets will know, they often cause distraction, so child and pet detection can provide important inputs to promote safer driving behavior."

"I have always been very interested in the intersection of healthcare and automotive. So, I am glad to see that, for example through Euro NCAP, attention is being given to sudden sickness. What if interior sensing AI could detect driver impairment due to a medical event? For example, we already have early stage capabilities for detecting heart rate variability using computer vision, and I am eager to see these types of technologies advance so that they can actually be deployed in vehicles."

"Occupancy detection, which determines how many people are in the cabin and where they are sitting, is another interesting area of functionality. This too can help improve existing safety functionality, as it helps determine proper seat position and seat belt usage and can provide important analysis for airbag deployment."

"I am also very interested in the experience features that in cabin sensing will enable. The Emotion AI technology that we created at Affectiva, now part of Smart Eye, also unlocks massively interesting personalization. By understanding the emotional and cognitive states of people in a vehicle we can adapt the environment to their needs in the moment. For example, if someone is getting drowsy, the lighting dims, the heating turns up and soothing music plays quietly in the background, creating a comfortable and restorative environment."

"There are also fascinating backseat use cases around content recommendations and monetization of advertising data, even. Understanding passenger reactions and emotional engagement with music and video content can help refine content recommendations, making these more relevant to the user and their experience. Where advertising is deployed, understanding viewer engagement with that content provides OEMs and advertisers with very valuable data. I think users will be interested in opting in to that, if there is an incentive for them. Imagine a scenario where you and your friends take a rideshare to a concert and engage with advertising in the back of a car. In return, since the system knows you are taking a ride to a concert, it offers you a discount coupon for a band t-shirt or such. And, to wrap this up, a fun use case often requested by OEMS, is trip highlights where the Emotion AI detects smiles and joy, so that an interior camera can take cool pictures just at the right moment there’s a lot of fun we can add to the overall experience considering the right applications of this technology."