Eyesight nabs $15m deal with US car maker for eye-tracking software
Startup’s software, which monitors driver alertness, will be integrated into two new car models with production starting in 2021
Shoshanna Solomon was The Times of Israel's Startups and Business reporter
Eyesight Technologies, a Herzliya-based startup whose software monitors drivers’ attentiveness and alerts them when they are distracted or drowsy, said Tuesday it has received an order to integrate its software into two new car models of a “well known” but unnamed US car manufacturer.
The car manufacturer plans to integrate the company’s DriverSense solution into two new car models whose production is expected to start in 2021. The deal value is estimated at $15 million, the company said in a statement.
Eyesight’s solution uses an infrared sensor together with computer vision to monitor drivers’ direction of sight, pupil dilation, eye openness, blink rate and head position to see if they show signs of drowsiness, are inattentive or not focused on the road. Once drowsiness or distraction is detected, Eyesight provides an alert.
The firm has also developed software to monitor the entire car cabin environment, and a driver monitoring system for car fleets.
“As we progress towards more advanced levels of autonomy…the integration of driver monitoring will play an important role in driver safety and in ensuring the transitions between man and machine are safe and secure,” said David Tolub, the CEO of Eyesight Technologies.
The firm has already set up partnerships and won contracts with global car and car equipment manufacturers for vehicles with start of production scheduled for 2020, the statement said.
Tolub also said that new European car safety regulations to mandate the presence of advanced safety systems in cars by mid-2022 “is a major step towards improving road safety and reducing fatalities.”
In October, the European Parliament and Council issued a regulation requiring that all manufactures ensure that vehicles are “designed, constructed and assembled so as to minimize the risk of injury to vehicle occupants and vulnerable road users.”
Under the new rules, all motor vehicles (including trucks, buses, vans and sport utility vehicles) will have to be equipped with advanced monitoring systems including driver drowsiness and attention warning systems, advanced driver distraction warning systems, event data recorders, intelligent speed assistance and reversing detection systems, among others.
