Tier 1 supplier, Denso has announced that its new Safety Monitor system will help reduce accidents involving commercial vehicles, the retrofittable driver status monitor detects distractions and drowsiness, which will improve the safety of drivers in new and existing vehicles.

The safety product checks for distractions, drowsiness, sleep, and inappropriate posture based on the driver’s facial image, which is captured through a camera installed in the cabin. If the driver is detected with drowsy or distracted behaviour, the monitor voices an alert.

The company states CVs can cause serious damage in an accident, and many trucks and buses do not have the latest safety devices installed because they’ve been in use for so many years. The driver status monitor is retrofittable to existing vehicles on the road, and can therefore accelerate introduction of safety devices to a large number of existing vehicles.

The system detects driver’s condition and records it on a SD card, which can be later reviewed by the operation manager, including the number of voiced alerts, and an image of the driver when the alert was triggered. This feature offers additional guidance for safe driving.

The driver’s condition can also be notified to the operation manager in real-time, making it possible to caution the driver and take quick action in the event of an emergency. In addition, the monitor can be linked with a new telematics device for commercial vehicles released by Denso and a cloud-based digital tachograph manufactured by Fujitsu.

Also read: Denso works on advanced image recognition tech to monitor driver alertness