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New Facial Recognition Software May Detect Looming Road Rage
cartechboy writes "Well, since we have license plate readers tracking drivers, and GPS breaking down we're you're headed — its probably time for someone to know what mood you're in when you're driving. (Quick hint: often not a good one). Researchers at Switzerland's École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne have prototyped a dashboard camera that tracks facial movements and expressions to read a person's emotions while behind the wheel. The team has partnered with PSA Peugeot Citroën to create a version for actual cars to determine when drivers are angry — and have high potential for road rage. One challenge for the technology has been the wide range of expressions drivers have when they're pissed. Some people smile, for example. (Maybe as they raise their middle finger.) The engineers are working on future revs to be able to tell when drivers are fatigued or even just distracted." The detection part sounds interesting; coupled with remote kill-switches that some government agencies want, and ever deeper fly-by-wire technologies, it's sounds downright dystopian, though.
Man, technology that tells me how to be gets me so angry I'd probably rip the damn iPhone out its socket and throw it out the window.
And that actually would settle me back down.
At least until I got a ticket for littering.
Why don't you take a stresstab and lie down for awhile.
I'll just slow the car down in the meantime.
Kill switches for when drivers get angry? If you thought gridlock was bad now, just wait until 50 angry stalled drivers are in front of you.
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...and not dystopian for some. I have a friend who lost a brother who fell asleep at the wheel, crashed and died. Fatigue (or at the least, closed eyes) should be detectable with current technology, and could save lives now.
It can't be all that difficult.
Take this sig and smoke it.
Probably they settle for the eye tracking. Sensing distraction and sleepiness would prevent a lot of accidents. The car would alarm the driver or gently park by itself.
I wonder if this technology could be paired with facial recognition algorithms against the list of outstanding sex offenders and DUI offenders from law enforcement, alerting the authorities and even nearby cars to the presence of an offender? This could be a very good thing indeed for those of us who are law abiding.
... that's my "O face". Siri, hand me a tissue.
So someone gets cut off. They get mad. Then the system auto-controlls or shuts the car down.
Then the person gets even madder.
And as they cannot even chase the original cause will then just open up on the traffic flow in general.
I don't see this fixing anything unless it autoinjects some nice drugs.
"and GPS breaking down we're you're headed "
equate to:
"and GPS breaking down we are you are headed "
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
It could be great until it reaches far enough into laws you don't abide by or aren't even aware exist.
executed?
Violence breeds violence. They should either learn to deal with events that happen on the road appropriately, or not be allowed to drive.
Executed is a solution thought up by stupid short sighted people.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
> No, you do not have an inalienable right to act out your aggressions on a publicly-funded highway.
However this doesn't actually look for people acting out, it looks at facial expressions to determine if a person is mad. This may be interesting itself but, I would submit the population of people who get mad while driving is so much larger than those who actually act out their aggression that this is unlikely to be the least bit useful.
This is using the fact that all criminals are found with water in their system as an excuse to monitor people who drink water.
"I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
and GPS breaking down we're you're headed
If they're as reliable as Slashdot's automated grammar screening I don't have much faith in the technology
Jee, hyperbole much? Nowhere in the article is it mentioned that there will be any dystopian government interaction. That was your own shitty opinion piece. Its the same crap the article postulates:
Stop it. Please. Those are some of the most idiotic question ever asked. The car wont do anything as this wont be installed in them. Why not? Simple: there are no answers for any of those silly questions that would avoid a legal minefield.
Examples:
Driver is angry and car detects it. So the car notifies the authorities.
- Authorities don't care enough about some butthurt driver to stop looking for speeders which make the county/city/town money. Besides after the 1000th notification of road rage in the first ten minutes of their highway patrol shift they will just turn the damn computer off.
Driver is angry and car detects it. So the car applies the brakes......
- Causing the driver to lose control or a rear end collision. Car manufacturer is sued into oblivion. Camera recalled.
Driver is angry and car detects it. So the car switches the radio to soothing music....
- Which distracts the driver causing an accident. Or the driver can blame a road rage accident on the sudden blast of Michael Bolton which startled them while enjoying a beautiful morning on the highway in bumper to bumper traffic. Car manufacturer is sued into oblivion. Camera recalled.
Not so serious but:
Driver is angry and car detects it. So the car tells a knock knock joke....
Driver is offended by joke along with a concerned watchdog group. Public outrage ensues. Camera recalled.
What's the appropriate response?
None. People will get angry. Its better to just let them scream or pound the steering wheel and let it out and then have a laugh. If it results in an accident and the drivers anger can be directly linked to the accident then let the courts decide the appropriate punishment.
One day, it will be simply easier, less controversial and more productive to mandate all highway traffic to run on auto-driving mode.
Ezekiel 23:20
What if they are angry because they are actively running from an abusive spouse that may kill them? Butter shut down the car...
I will never own a device with a remote kill switch that I do not have full and sole control over. (One reason to have a dumb phone. All they can kill is the service.)
as someone who has gone through periods of some nasty sleep disorders (so much better since I got some treatment), it doesn't really always happen like that. Generally yes, you lay down, close your eyes, THEN sleep. I do too....now.
However an overly fatigued person, like I used to be, doesn't always do this. I have been mostly alseep and slipping into dream....before my eyes were closed.
I shit you not, this is how I almost ended up with a similar crash. I was driving home alone from a party one night. I hadn't been drinking, but I was tired. I was doing a normal highway speed, in the 70s anyway.
What happened in a nutsehll was I fell asleep and drifted to the shoulder. I woke up and turned the car, glancing off the side rail. How much of a glance? Well I didn't slow down, but the ENTIRE side of my car had a long superficial scratch down the side with a few minor dents. So....I was an inch or two from total disaster.
Thing is, my eyes didn't close. I was entering an open eye dream state and then falling off. I know this because of the disassociated way I was thinking at the time. Litterally, my head was tilting to the side and the thought in my head....and I am not being cute here was actually "Oh look, the road is turning sideways, that isn't supposed to happen.". Luckily then I snapped back awake and turned the wheel but.... point being....closed eyes is not necessarily going to do it.
"I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
Next thing you know your TV will detect when you're raging and change the channel.
Invalid Checksum. Retrying.
I think we need to install a camera on your computer to prevent posting while enraged.
defeats all the facial recognition software, which already has a high failure rate.
Basically, if it worked in WW II or in Korea, it still works.
Welcome to Eastern Germany, Amerikka!
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
A solution in search of a problem. With driverless cars on the verge of being a reality, road rage will become a thing of the past.
Proverbs 21:19
If I wanted to live among the emotionless , I'd move to Japan.
Probably they settle for the eye tracking. Sensing distraction and sleepiness would prevent a lot of accidents. The car would alarm the driver or gently park by itself.
Something like that (my emphasis in bold) would make it impossible for most guys to get anywhere in a car in most beach cities. Even worse, I can hear my wife now saying, "Would you keep your eyes on the road! We can't get there if the car parks itself every time some eye candy in a bikini is in view."
Cheers,
Dave
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither safety nor liberty.
Ben
If yelling "get off your F-ing phone and drive" a lot while driving qualifies as road rage, I could be in trouble with a system like this.
Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of congress. But then I repeat myself. -- Mark Twain
There won't ever be a remote kill switch. Its such a stupid idea it won't be implemented. The only people who would push for it are idiotic nanny state morons who want to protect the children from dangerous speeders or car chases. Meanwhile they become an awesome attack vector for hackers looking to fuck up the evening commute for a laugh.
The only thing I can see becoming a reality are those high power "RF cannons" which emit such a high power signal that they scramble a vehicles electrical system effectively killing it. Though I suspect there could be legal problems if its use results in a deadly crash and the victims family sues the cops for wrongful death.
It's already been tried, but it didn't work out so well.
Table-ized A.I.
Yes, people can sleep with their eyes open. The biggest threat is micro-sleeping. You're tired enough that your brain says enough is enough and it shuts down for a moment to multiple seconds. You'll have absolutely no bodily control and normally don't even realized it happened.
How about getting bad drivers off of the roads altogether. We all make mistakes here and there, but some people are very aggressive jerks and they need to go. They cause traffic problems, backups, accidents, and roadrage. I don't defend roadrage at all ever, but humans are humans. I get tense seeing people break the law and getting away with it. Almost anyone can be provoked into some kind of angry reaction, and some people unfortunately act on that anger. I would like to remove the root causes of the problem.
1) Better traffic enforcement. Cops who a) obey the laws, and b) ticket truly bad drivers.
2) Dashcams everywhere! Catch these idiots in the act and get them off of the roads. Stiffer penalties for professional drivers.
3) Better govt. In my area (NE USA suburbs) there are traffic lights which were obviously programmed by hamsters. They turn red causing major backups when there are no cars waiting on the side street. I've heard this is intentional. Morons.
A lot less deadly too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L...
In the US, roughly 100 people per day die in vehicle crashes.
It's only 2 per state! /sarcasm
There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
The technology already exists and is being used in Mercedes Benz and a few other types of cars. Experienced this first hand driving a rental down the Autobahn a few weeks ago, after about an hour of driving my car told me to get some coffee... it was right, I was getting tired.
Sigs are bad for you...
Also, teenagers wouldn't be able to ever leave the driveway.
Not that that would be a bad thing.
There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
executed?
Violence breeds violence. They should either learn to deal with events that happen on the road appropriately, or not be allowed to drive.
Executed is a solution thought up by stupid short sighted people.
Violence does not breed violence. If that were true we would have gone extinct ages ago.
Fact: All major conflicts in human history have been solved with violence.
Fact: Killing a violent person prevents them from being violent in the future.
Fact: Letting violent people run loose lets them commit more violence,
Fact: Rehabilitation doesn't work. The vast majority of offenders recidivate.
In almost all cases, people are violent not because of a lack of coping skills, a mental illness, etc, but because they simply want to be violent. Some people are just jerks, and other people shouldn't have to put up with that shit.
It'll also cause a lot more accidents. People will think they can drive in no matter what physical or mental state they're in so long as the car doesn't complain. You'll get a lot more DUIs ("car said I was ok") and tired drivers ("car thinks I'm awake enough") even on cars that don't have the system ("I thought it was activated").
OK, I have that sort of face. Blame it on genes or too much time indoors, but when I'm not thinking about anything in particular -- happy even -- I look angry.
I was with a group of friends once, enjoying the beach, when someone asked me why I looked so angry.
I was sitting at a Chuck E. Cheesy watching my daughter once, and some other parent said, "Buddy, you gotta take it easy."
Said daughter drew a picture of me once. I looked like I was scowling. Why, kid? That's the way you always look, Daddy.
So I got that face that scares kids, makes others think I'm about to start a fight... This won't go over well.
that statement is irrelevant red herring to use of this technology
That happens to me every time my face is half covered in blood and I pick up a rocket launcher.
This tech should be used to make a nice car HUD. HUD needs a doom guy's face in the middle of it, of course! The way he constantly snoops on the left and right would entice the driver to pay about his surroundings. Funny stuff like the pissed off face (has left and right looking variants) with hurt groan would happen when you have bumps on the road and mild collisions, and two nice screams are built-in that can be played for driver death.
It would be cool if this technology could be coupled with exterior signs on the car. If I'm pissed, it would be great if the car could save me the trouble of giving the finger to the people around me, and just show a giant middle finger signal to the motorists around me.
Easy Online Role Playing Campaign Management
The only thing I can see becoming a reality are those high power "RF cannons" which emit such a high power signal that they scramble a vehicles electrical system effectively killing it. Though I suspect there could be legal problems if its use results in a deadly crash and the victims family sues the cops for wrongful death.
I would imagine things such as this would be deployed only in cases where current devices such as spike strips are used, ie high speed chases. The upside would be that you wouldn't have to predict the path of the suspect if one of the chase cars can just shoot it with a cannon. I don't really think they would be viable (and certainly not safe) if they were used in a basic traffic stop or anything like that. Might be useful in cases like sobriety checkpoints if someone tries to bail from the line, although that might be a questionable use.
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Well, that's what I meant by "more productive" - i.e., resulting in the greatest possible reduction of accidents and fatalities, if that is the purpose. (Even non-fatal accidents are bad - injuries still hurt, and there's health care expenses and obviously car repair or new car purchase expenses that this could reduce.)
Ezekiel 23:20
There won't ever be a remote kill switch. Its such a stupid idea it won't be implemented.
This attitude is dangerous and enables scary power grabs. I would have thought that indefinite detention, drone executions of American citizens without due process and outlawing of protests on private property would never happen in the US either, but they all did.
They could save a LOT of money on this, no need for fancy eye tracking, etc.
Just have some simple sound recongnition, and list for how many times I yell MotherFucker per minute, and that would be an easy gauge on my mood and opinion of the pinheads driving around me.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
On the other hand, that's a lot more people our systems have to support.
There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
All that would prove for me, is that I am listening to the news on the radio.
"I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
Just wear a happy mask. Might also help to get out of speeding tickets if the speed camera shows your car was driven by Ronald Reagan at the time.
You're a temporary arrangement of matter sliding towards oblivion in a cold, uncaring universe
not sure if i want to mod up, or comment how right he is :( living in a free society has costs and risk. i'd rather deal with the risks than further ensconse ourselves in bubble-wrap "for our safety"
"No, you do not have an inalienable right to act out your aggressions on a publicly-funded highway."
That's certainly true. But I think we'd be better off treating the cause, rather than the symptoms. I might not have a right to "act out aggressions" on the highway. But you don't have a right to drive like an asshole and piss off everybody around you, either.
If it goes by facial expressions, I might not even be mad. Maybe I just have gas.
Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
That's my answer to this technology.
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
"I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore" .
When you are too angry, your car will die, troopers will fast-rope onto it from their ornithopter, hit you with sick sticks and halo you while your fluids fly from every orifice... That is, if the AdWords for the latest hypnotic from Pfizer flashing across your windshield didn't calm you down first.
What is likely to be the accuracy of this system? Even a 99% accurate system would be fairly useless. Say you get 1 rager per day out of 100 000 drivers. Over 100 days (about 3 months), it will properly flag 99 people and miss one. But during the same period would flag 1000 people per day who aren't raging or dangerous.
It's the same every time someone says they can "detect" a rare event out of a completely random sample, whether it is mass screening for rare diseases or conditions, terrorists or road rage. Unless your screening method is extraordinarily accurate, the sheer number of individuals examined by the system will cause a significant number of false positives.
If he explores all forms and substances Straight homeward to their symbol-essences; He shall not die.
Actually I read a while ago that the micro-adjustments to the steering are a good way to tell the driver's alert level. As someone above mentioned, you can fall asleep, or at least loose concentration on your driving without your eyes closing. But in normal driving you are constantly making small adjustments to the steering wheel this way and that. Perhaps a combination of the two would be even more capable of detecting unsafe driving.
-- ssoorrrryy,, dduupplleexx sswwiittcchh oonn.. -Quote found on actual fortune cookie.
So naturally being a location aware and personalized the system parks the car by the beach or slows the car down.
Seriously, with all the self absorbed drivers on the road these days all trying to get to the same place at the same time, I want the Sweet Tooth options on my next car. Cut me off?!?! It's the flaming ice cream buddy!
With fewer officers on the highways and all the dumb ass maneuvers that people pull, it still seems incomprehensible that people don't get why "road rage" exists. I'm all for free choice but acting like an asshole on the roads means you'll probably get an asshole response. It's just human nature. Oh and Fred Rogers is still dead.
Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
-- Nineteen Eighty-Four
Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
Just have some simple sound recongnition, and list for how many times I yell MotherFucker per minute, and that would be an easy gauge on my mood and opinion of the pinheads driving around me.
I guess I can't listen to my hiphop and rap any more?
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
Bullshit. My commuter has a 1.6. Hence my throttle is more or less binary.
Smoothness in driving is about getting the cars weight transferred onto your traction tires then getting through the corner with maximum speed. Not being afraid of your gas pedal.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
Some people smile, for example.
This.
Many people suffering from road rage are bat-shit crazy. I've seen people trying to cause accidents. And I've nearly been run off the road a few times by them myself. Overwhelmingly, they are laughing or have a silly grin on their face. Perhaps because they thought they caused (or nearly caused) someone else some grief.
On the other hand, I recall an interesting incident from some years ago. I was in heavy traffic on an on ramp merging onto the freeway at a crawl. Traffic was (generally) alternating between ramp and freeway, every other car. I pulled in front of a dump truck. In my rear view mirror, I watched the guy behind me gun his SUV and try to make it between the dump truck and a jersey barrier. Not enough room, he got caught between the two. Then, he gunned his engine and squeezed through, tearing the hell out of his truck. So I'm watching him (behind me now) in my rear view mirror, grinning because he had just screwed the dump truck out of one position on the freeway. Sheet metal on what was (a few moments ago) a nice truck, hanging off the sides.
Have gnu, will travel.
I already have a mask picked out. Hides me from the facial recognition cameras. And other drivers give me lots of room as well.
Have gnu, will travel.
demand a jury trail and in the case push any case of an system that can read some of being off start with voice recognition
Fact: Killing all humans prevents them from perpetrating and being the victim of violence in the future.
I suggest that the car's outside color changes according to the driver's mood.
Sleepy driver = night blue
...
Nervous driver = pulsing bright red
Relax driver = apple green with dark green waves
Raging driver = blood red with yellow dots
That explains your sig. Your eyes are in backwards. ;)
Seriously, you are right. And the more fatigued you are, the more likely you are to wind up in a waking-dream sort of state, eyes open and kinda regarding what you see as hallucination, rather than just going to sleep.
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
Absolutely right. There is no idea so stupid, or so counterproductive, or so liberty-killing, that some politician or bureaucrat can't manage to implement it. Do you =really= know what all the riders are on each and every bill?? Do you really know what's in those federal regulations that keep growing by tens of thousands of pages every year??
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
Like the time I had to jump on the brake with all my strength to avoid plowing right through the idiot who pulled out no more than 30 feet ahead of 10,000 pounds of truck and trailer going 25mph and with nowhere else to go??
That's when I learned what amazing brakes Ford puts on their heavier trucks. Stopped with room to spare. But with a "harshness governor" on my actions and only normal braking -- the idiot would have been dead.
[Incidentally, I'm fairly sure popping out in front of oncoming traffic without troubling to look first is the Idaho state sport.]
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
> That explains your sig. Your eyes are in backwards. ;)
Lets um...go with that. It is, at least, related to the topic of hallucination, states of consciousness and perception.
> Seriously, you are right. And the more fatigued you are, the more likely you are to wind up in a
> waking-dream sort of state
Very true, but the really odd part is how normal it can feel. I mean its one thing to be fatigued, but with sleep apnea, especially like I have (rather severe) I am pretty sure I never experienced a good nights sleep before the age of 28. If not my whole life, certainly not since my early teens before that.
"I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
Happened to me once. I drove all day between sites fixing it equipment in northern England. On the motorway one day I was so tired I feel asleep. I woke up moments later to the sound of traffic cones flying over the front of the car, and realised I was driving on the hard shoulder and that the traffic cones saved my life by waking me up before I drove over the embankment. Scary stuff.
"Everyone knows that vi vi vi is the number of the beast" -- Richard Stallman
Kill yourself
The new right fascists are bilingual. They speak English and Bullshit.