Facial Recognition | A New Copilot for Truck Driver & Road Safety

The most recent recorded data on fatal crashes caused by heavy-hauling vehicles comes from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMSA) in their 2021 statistics report. FMSA quoted that the number of large trucks involved in fatal accidents increased by 18%. Another resource claims that tiredness causes every 1 in 6 accidents. What if there’s a system like the one shown in the video? 

The above video illustrates how a passenger vehicle’s eye movement can control its brakes as shutting a human eye for a long time will trigger brakes to be applied. It is facial recognition technology deeply embedded into truck driver fatigue systems that can help prevent fatal accidents. Acting like a guardian angel, facial recognition can be critical in helping truck drivers maintain road safety. 

In this blog, we will explain the use of facial recognition in the trucking industry for road safety by installing embedded facial recognition tools to monitor truck driver behavior.

How Truck Driver Monitoring Systems Can Integrate Facial Recognition?

It will be done to achieve the primary goal of Driver Fatigue Prevention. Human facial expressions change when a person is sleepy. Especially the eyes get dizzy and are visible but difficult to monitor while a truck driver is on the road. So, trucking companies need to monitor their drivers and monitor their sleep timing. For this purpose using facial recognition technology via embedded devices is mandatory. A camera in front of the driver’s seat with a live feed to the company’s system can help. This embedded device can use facial recognition to monitor facial expressions for sleep detection. 

From 2D to 3D and Now Infrared Cameras for Driver Monitoring Systems

Initially, the cameras were used to detect objects using 2D technology. 2 cameras or a single 2D camera was used to capture and give a frontal view of the objects detected. As 3D cameras were introduced, the technology of identifying objects improved and so did the concept of facial recognition through cameras. A complete view of a face can now be easily and accurately captured which is a great help in recognizing individuals anywhere and in any setting. Once 3D cameras established their place for facial recognition and face detection, then infrared technology was introduced to capture facial data in low lighting conditions helping in recording faces at night as well.

How Facial Recognition Technology has Helped in Driver Fatigue Prevention?

It is highly probable that drivers on long routes get fatigued and may fall asleep while driving causing fatal accidents. Statistics have shown that nearly 40% of accidents due to fatigue happen in Heavy Trucks. Moreover, we are well aware that the USA has the largest trucking and hauling industry that requires active monitoring of truck drivers while on the road to minimize fatal accidents.

This calls for both face detection and facial recognition to capture the signs of sleep and fatigue from drivers’ faces remotely and alert them before accidents.

Facial Recognition vs. Face Detection

Face Recognition is far more complex than Face Detection which is simply locating a face in an image or a video. Think of it as the selfie camera feature that detects faces with a square surrounding all faces in front of the camera. Facial recognition on the other hand is recognizing the identity belonging to the detected face.

The Benefits of Facial Recognition for Fleet Safety

Trucking companies can incorporate fatigue detection, sleep detection, and other factors of human behavioral analysis through Facial Recognition technology for live monitoring of truck drivers. This will ensure the following benefits:

• Decrease in overall fatal accident rate involving heavy haulers
• Ensuring driver’s responsible behavior and alertness while on the road
• Real-time driver monitoring through facial recognition is a vital tool to ensure on-job safety training with reduced costs
• Can help in detecting a sense of responsibility which will ultimately streamline the reward system in which the driver deserves a reward due to safety and alertness practices.

A Few Disturbing Facts Highlighting Accidents Caused by Heavy Trucks

In the UK, 46% of car crashes happen because of the drivers not looking properly or being unattentive to driving. Most car and truck accidents happen on dull and long roads like motorways where there are high chances of drivers to fall asleep while driving. The majority of these accidents take place at night hours between 2 am to 6 am.

These statistics not only show that there is a high need to install a driver monitoring system but also to use the best possible way to pre-detect any signs of sleep, mobile usage, or any other unrest.

Facial Biometric Monitoring for Truck Drivers

Facial recognition technology can be used in different ways for the trucking industry including:

• Truckers attendance management
• Truckers sleep monitoring and fatigue detection through facial expressions
• Monitoring drivers’ smoking and drinking to ensure that there are not intoxicated while driving.

Facial Biometric driver monitoring will use the driver’s live camera feed for improved truck driver management. This camera will record the driver’s face images and video round the clock which can also help in tracking the productive time, brakes taken, and other aspects of driver monitoring remotely.

Facia | Your Partner in Biometric Monitoring for Truck Drivers

Facia is an AI facial recognition solution that helps you monitor your drivers in real-time. It incorporates liveness detection to ensure no spoofing attack like a deepfake injection attack is used to sabotage the live camera feed by drivers. It also helps in detecting the driver’s behavior and facial expressions. With its light UI and high integrability, it can easily be installed with multiple facial recognition cameras and is fully functional with high accuracy in low-light conditions too.  

Final Thoughts

Biometric monitoring for truck drivers is crucial for road safety at all times with the ever-increasing vehicle population and the growing need for heavy trucks. Using facial recognition technology to monitor driver behavior and fatigue can be highly beneficial and will help in preventing accidents. Facial recognition alongside liveness detection can ensure that no driver is trying to outwit the driver monitoring system and is complying with the policies and rules of road safety at all times.