In December 2024, Seeing Machines connected with automotive industry colleagues at InCabin.Sensing USA 2024. Our very own Lori Markatos delivered the opening and closing remarks as event chair, and we showcased our latest interior sensing solutions on the exhibition floor to a range of leading brands.

Held in Detroit, alongside the Tech.AD and Car.HMI events, InCabin.Sensing USA explored the latest advancements, trends and opportunities in the interior sensing market. Tech.AD focused on the future of autonomous vehicle technologies, while Car.HMI delved into development in user experience and human-machine interaction (HMI) for the automotive industry. Attendees included original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) such as GM, Ford, Hyundai, Stellantis and Nissan with a range of speakers from Tier One’s like Bosch, Valeo, Forvia, and Mobis.

As Lori shared in her opening speech, less than a decade ago, the industry was abuzz with talk that cars would drive themselves. While there have been significant advances in autonomous driving and robotaxis are now available in certain US cities, this will not eliminate the death toll on our roads with most cars still being driven by humans.

With the European Union leading the way to regulate driver monitoring system (DMS) technology to detect driver drowsiness and distraction, and the US looking set to follow, Lori commented that the goal for every OEM should be to increase safety with the best possible driver experience.

Over the two and half days, there was a great variety of presentations as well as World Café and Challenge Your Peers sessions. Topics ranged from driver monitoring systems, fatigue and distraction detection, interior monitoring and security, to data privacy and IT security, emotion and stress detection, and gesture and voice control.

Here are some insights from Lori on the hot topics and compelling presentations from InCabin.Sensing USA 2024.

Hot topics

• Sensor fusion – exploring how data captured by sensors can be used to enhance the user experience and provide greater safety, wellbeing and comfort for vehicle occupants. There was discussion on different technology/sensor solutions, and what may be the best sensor modality, especially regarding child presence detection and adaptive restraint integrations.
• Matters of privacy – speakers touched on how different privacy rules vary from country to country and from state to state, and how privacy must be foundational in the design of all in-cabin sensing technologies to ensure driver acceptance.
• Monitoring the health and wellbeing of occupants – some sessions delved into moving beyond the use of interior sensing technology for measuring driver attentiveness, towards stress detection and monitoring the health and wellbeing of the driver and passengers.

Compelling presentations

• The future of shared ride safety – AI surveillance & threat detection solutions: Shady Zahran from SEITech Solutions GmbH explored using AI to improve passenger safety when using ride sharing services.
• Interior sensing evolution – Cost-effective solutions with occupant monitoring systems: Fabiano Ruaro from Bosch discussed cost-effectiveness for occupant and driver monitoring systems, recognizing that some new technologies displace others to provide lower cost solutions. For example, eliminating three sensors and replacing them with a new software solution using only one sensor.
• Intuitive voice control in the car – Why & how: Olga Khryapchenkova from NIO presented on intuitive voice control for the cabin, with the example of Nomi, which is more like a personal assistant and friend for you in the car.