Kia to preview AI-based real-time emotion recognition tech at CES 2019

Kia Motors has said it will preview a range of new technologies developed for the post-autonomous driving era at the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) next month in Las Vegas, USA.

The company will showcase interactive ‘Space of Emotive Driving’ exhibit, which looks to a future when autonomous driving is the norm and priority is given to improving the human mobility experience. At the centre of this concept is Kia’s new Real-time Emotion Adaptive Driving (R.E.A.D.) System claimed to be world’s first technology developed based on a joint research collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab's Affective Computing group.

The R.E.A.D. System can optimise and personalise a vehicle cabin space by analszing a driver’s emotional state in real-time through artificial intelligence-based bio-signal recognition technology. The technology monitors a driver’s emotional state and tailors the interior environment according to its assessment – potentially altering conditions relating to the human senses within the cabin, creating a more joyful mobility experience.

Albert Biermann, president and head, Research & Development Division, Kia Motors, said, “We have developed R.E.A.D. System to create an interactive future mobility in-cabin space by converging cutting edge vehicle control technology and AI-based emotional intelligence. Consequently, R.E.A.D. System will enable continuous communication between drivers and vehicles through the unspoken language of ‘emotional feeling’, thereby providing an optimised human senses-oriented space for drivers in real-time.”

At the 2019 CES Kia exhbit will also feature several other advanced in-car and mobility technologies focused on the brand’s ‘emotive driving’ concept, with more details set to be announced in the build-up to the 2019 event.