Although everyone knows that people shouldn't drive when drowsy or distracted, not everyone realizes when they themselves are in either of those states. Ridy is designed to take the guesswork out of things by monitoring users' faces as they drive, and alerting them if it detects danger.
Via either a suction cup or a clamp, Ridy mounts on the dashboard, windshield or rearview mirror within a claimed 60 seconds, and is hard-wired to the car's power socket.
Using an onboard camera (equipped with infrared LEDs for night-time use) along with real-time machine vision analytics, the device continuously watches the driver's face – it pays particular attention to things like the frequency at which they blink, the number and duration of times that they look away from the road, and facial expression patterns such as yawns.
If it determines that they're too drowsy or distracted, it issues a verbal warning. Depending on the perceived severity of the situation, this warning could range from something subtle like "Keep your eyes on the road" up to a more urgent "Danger! Danger! Wake up!". It won't actually take charge of things and physically turn off the engine, however, or anything like that.
And for people concerned about their privacy, Ridy doesn't record any video, nor does it communicate with the internet.
The device's creators have to turned to Indiegogo to finance production, with a pledge of US$89 getting backers a unit if everything works out. The planned retail price is $139. Potential buyers might also want to check out products like the Impecca Alert Band … or get a car with built-in drowsiness detection.
Source: Indiegogo
