CES 2020: Bosch shows an AI-enabled virtual sun visor
Sun glare causes thousands of automotive accidents a year. Bosch's Virtual Visor, showcased at CES 2020, features a single, transparent LCD panel, a driver-facing camera with AI facial detection and analysis and tracking software. With the virtual visor, Bosch is focusing on an often overlooked aspect of the car's interior, the sun visor. The USA's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports thousands of sun glare-related car accidents each year. Another study indicates that the risk of a car crash is 16 per cent higher during bright sunlight than normal weather. The normal sun visor provided in cars is not adequate to prevent the accidents since it partially blocks the view along with the sunrays.
Bosch's technology utilizes intelligent algorithms to intuitively block the sun's glare and not the view of the road ahead. The virtual visor links an LCD panel with a driver or occupant-monitoring camera to track the sun's casted shadow on the driver's face.
The system uses artificial intelligence to locate the driver within the image from the driver-facing camera.It also utilizes AI to determine the landmarks on the face- including where the eyes,nose and mouth are located- so that it can identify shadows on the face.
The algorithm analyzes the driver's view, darkening only the section of the display through which light hits the driver's eyes. The rest of the display remains transparent, no longer obscuring a large section of the driver's field of vision.
Stephen Berns president of Bosch car multimedia said, "Some of the simplest innovations make the greatest impact, and virtual visor changes the way drivers see the road".