BharatBenz is forging ahead with the deployment of safety features in its trucks with the introduction of an innovative Driver State Monitoring System (DSMS). An industry-first in India’s commercial vehicle segment, the goal is to avoid dangerous situations of drivers falling asleep or otherwise being distracted at the wheel. The DSMS will be introduced on all premium variants of the BharatBenz heavy-duty truck range and will be available for order on other heavy-duty models and as an aftersales solution for existing heavy-duty customer vehicles. First deliveries to customers are planned for April 2018.
Mr. Erich Nesselhauf, Managing Director and CEO, Daimler India Commercial Vehicles: “Safety is a core attribute of BharatBenz. Focusing on the human factor, our new Driver State Monitoring System can help prevent accidents related to driver drowsiness or inattentiveness.”
The BharatBenz DSMS employs state-of-the-art artificial intelligence and computer vision technologies to identify facial patterns including eyes, face, head gaze, and other natural cues. Based on this, it is able to differentiate between safe driving conditions, or driver drowsiness and inattentiveness, in this case, it gives an acoustic and visual alert. The system is trained for most ethnicities and eye wears, can handle various head gears and works in day and night conditions.
Inattentive driving is particularly dangerous not only for drivers and passengers, but can also pose a severe risk to other motorist and pedestrians. Official records published by Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, (‘Road Accidents in India’, 2015) show that in a year 2,270 people have been killed in 8,359 crashes due to ‘driver’s inattentiveness’.
Leading technologies to make trucking safer
The introduction of the innovative Driver State Monitoring System is the latest in a row of industry-firsts from BharatBenz in the Indian commercial vehicle segment aiming to make trucking safer. Right with its market launch, the brand had offered crash-tested steel cabins which fulfil global standards and introduced Anti-Lock Braking System (ABS) as standard before it became mandatory, while factory-fitted air conditioning has been available as an optional feature from day one.