NXP and Chinese Momenta keep a close eye on drivers

NXP and Momenta, a Chinese pioneer in software solutions for autonomous driving, have announced a collaboration on automotive-grade driver monitoring systems (DMS). By keeping an eye on driver attentiveness, these systems play an important role in increasing road safety. The joint effort between NXP and Momenta aims to enable carmakers to deploy DMS applications into mass automotive production.

Driver monitoring systems are one of the interrelated parts of advanced driving assistance systems (ADAS) and are essential for level 3 and higher driving systems. They use deep learning algorithms to visually monitor and detect a driver’s lack of attention to the road and can offer pre-collision warnings. Euro NCAP has made DMS a primary safety function slated for incorporation in the new car assessment program by 2020 and some forecasts predict a market of more than one billion dollars by 2026.

The first result from the collaboration will combine the high-performance, power-efficient architecture of NXP’s Open Vision Platform (S32V2) with Momenta’s deep learning software and expertise. The solution aims to optimize, compress and accelerate deep neural networks so that they can run efficiently on an automotive-grade DMS embedded platform. “The S32V2’s integrated automotive-grade hardware accelerators reduce CPU usage and save computing resources. This can offer more performance for other vision processing tasks within the vehicle and reduce costs for our customers,” said Kamal Khouri, VP and general manager of ADAS at NXP.