As electric vehicle and ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance System) continue to penetrate the market, iCatch Technology also has been investing lots of resources in imaging-based ADAS technology and business development. How do you ensure that the driver is still paying attention to the road condition ahead when ADAS is activated becomes an important topic for both the car makers and the government. Therefore, Euro NCAP will include Driver Monitoring Systems (DMS) in its five-star safety assessment starting in 2023.
By adding DMS that monitors driver's attentiveness and health status through multi-sensor fusion and AI edge computing, the system will alert the driver and even take over the control of the car when needed. Imaging is the core of DMS and iCatch's Intelligent Imaging SoC can support multiple imaging sensors simultaneously to meet car makers' requirements on image resolution, dynamic range and privacy protection. Moreover, iCatch has also been cooperating with leading algorithm providers in the DMS industry to provide total solution to potential customers worldwide.
iCatch's AI Intelligent Imaging SoC has been selected by a leading European car maker as the core processor of its DMS and has already entered mass production.
The cause of car accidents can be classified into two categories, violation of traffic rules and human error. According to the statistics of Euro NCAP and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 94~96% of accidents are actually caused by human error. Therefore, Euro NCAP has been enforcing the adoption of ADAS of all types to compensate for human error. For example, DMS will become one of the mandatory system in a vehicle to qualify a 5-Star safety rating in 2023. As automotive Tier-1s continue to enhance DMS solutions, iCatch has readied several DMS solutions which have already been deployed on multiple passenger and commercial vehicles.
iCatch's Intelligent Imaging SoC has been selected by a leading European car maker as the core processor of its DMS and has already entered mass production. On the other hand, iCatch's SoC has also been powering the fleet management dash cam which combines DMS functions for driver coaching. This dash cam product has been adopted by a leading transportation and e-commerce company in the US. Ability Enterprise, a leading imaging ODM in Taiwan, is partnering with iCatch to provide ADAS and in-cabin monitoring camera modules to Japanese autonomous driving developers and to supply multi-camera AI dash cam with built-in ADAS and DMS features to US and Japan fleet management customers. Appro Photoelectron is an Elite Partner of Nvidia in Taiwan and has been providing automotive camera modules based on iCatch's solution to pair with Nvidia AI computing platforms for ADAS and DMS applications.
iCatch's EVS-based intelligent vision sensing solution not only can it protects driver's privacy but also can track driver's gaze and alertness with the embedded deep learning accelerator.
iCatch's Intelligent Imaging SoC includes industry-leading image signal processor and AI deep learning accelerator to support multiple sensor technologies, including Global Shutter, RGBIR color filter, and Event-based sensing in order to fulfill various smart cabin applications, such as DMS, Occupant Monitoring System (OMS) and Face Recognition. With RGBIR sensor, a single camera can produce color and monochrome IR images for driver and occupant monitoring as well as in-cabin video conferencing. Event-based Vision Sensor (EVS) is a new type of sensor technology that only captures the outline of moving objects and significantly reduce the amount of output data with extremely high response rate for AI processing. iCatch has co-developed EVS-based intelligent vision processing system with Sony Semiconductor Solutions (SSS) and Prophesee. When this solution is applied to DMS application, not only can it track driver's gaze and alertness with high accuracy and fast response rate using the embedded deep learning accelerator but also can protect driver's privacy.
A DMS device must adapt to the continuously changing lighting conditions in the cabin and provide reliable alert even if the driver might be wearing glasses or sunglasses to improve driving safety. iCatch's latest Intelligent Imaging SoC is able to process sensor fusion and provide a complete and robust solution to customers. With drivers' and road users' safety as the 1st priority, iCatch Technology will continue to invest in resource to improve image signal processing and AI deep learning technologies using advanced process nodes.