DENSO Releases New Safety Monitor to Reduce Accidents Involving Commercial Vehicles

- The retrofittable driver status monitor detects distractions and drowsiness to improve the safety of drivers in new and existing commercial vehicles -

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DENSO

May 15, 2018, 10:53 ET

SOUTHFIELD, Mich., May 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- DENSO, one of the world's largest automotive suppliers, today announced it has released a retrofittable driver status monitor to help reduce the number of traffic accidents involving commercial vehicles, such as trucks and buses. 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 drowsy or distracted driving is detected, the monitor voices an alert. It is now sold by DENSO Sales and DENSO service stations across Japan and will be released outside the country later this year.

Product photos (right: camera, left: main unit)

Large commercial vehicles 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 the introduction of safety devices to large commercial vehicles.

A driver's condition is detected by the product and recorded on a SD card. An operation manager and the driver can review the driving status, 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 this summer and a cloud-based digital tachograph manufactured by Fujitsu Limited.

DENSO has been developing safety technologies and products for passenger cars and commercial vehicles to help create a society free from traffic accidents. In 2014, DENSO developed its first driver status monitor and currently offers products for heavy trucks and large sightseeing buses. In 2017, DENSO collaborated with FotoNation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Xperi Corporation that creates facial image recognition and neural network technologies, to further improve the performance of driver status detection and accelerate the development of products that will impact the future of mobility.

These technologies and partnerships support DENSO's commitment to deliver a safe and secure automotive society for all people around the world.

Product specifications

Main unit	Operating temperature range	−30–70°C
	Power supply voltage	8–32 V
	Current consumption	1.0 A max. (24 V)
	Dark current	3m A max.
	External dimensions [(width) × (depth) × (height)]	148 mm × 112 mm × 35 mm
Camera	Operating temperature range	−40–90°C
Camera	External dimensions [(width) × (depth) × (height)]	106 mm × 26 mm × 27 mm
Manufacturer's suggested retail price		Open

About DENSO in North America
DENSO is a leading global automotive supplier of advanced technology, systems and components in the areas of thermal, powertrain control, electronics and information and safety. With its North American headquarters located in Southfield, Michigan, DENSO employs more than 23,000 people at 28 consolidated subsidiaries and 4 affiliates across the North American region. Of these, 25 are manufacturing facilities located in the United States, Canada and Mexico. In the United States alone, DENSO employs more than 17,000 people in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Iowa, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas. DENSO's North American consolidated sales totaled US$10.9 billion for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2018. For more information, go to www.denso.com/us-ca/en. Connect with DENSO on Facebook at www.facebook.com/DENSOinNorthAmerica.

About DENSO Corporation
DENSO Corp., headquartered in Kariya, Aichi prefecture, Japan has more than 220 subsidiaries in 35 countries and regions (including Japan) and employs approximately 170,000 people worldwide. Consolidated global sales for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2018, totaled US$48.1 billion. Last fiscal year, DENSO spent 8.8 percent of its global consolidated sales on research and development. DENSO common stock is traded on the Tokyo and Nagoya stock exchanges. For more information, go to www.denso.com, or visit our media website at www.denso.com/global/en/news/media-center/.

About Xperi Corporation
Xperi Corporation and its brands, DTS, FotoNation, HD Radio, Invensas and Tessera, are dedicated to creating innovative technology solutions that enable extraordinary experiences for people around the world. Xperi's solutions are licensed by hundreds of leading global partners and have shipped in billions of products in areas including premium audio, automotive, broadcast, computational imaging, computer vision, mobile computing and communications, memory, data storage, and 3D semiconductor interconnect and packaging. For more information, please call 408-321-6000 or visit www.xperi.com.

SOURCE DENSO