Intelligent Automation, Inc. — Department of Transportation SBIR Phase I: 121FM2

Description

Intelligent Automation Inc. (IAI) proposes an innovative anti-texting system which does not prevent the use of any cell phone but can detect and record the texting and driving behavior for enforcement instead. This proposal lays out a concrete plan to develop a robust and cost effective system that can detect, identify and record the instances when a driver is texting (or voice calling without hands free device). We call this system Robust Anti-texting Law Enforcement System (RATLES). Since there is no single silver bullet for this problem we are formulating a fusion based approach that combines three key measurements: Detect, classify, and locate cell phone use; vision based approach and driving style. We will determine the most robust combination of all or a subset of these technologies for text detection, and demonstrate the feasibility of incorporating these modalities in a single, compact, and low-cost device. The output for these three detection modules will be used to produce a probability metric associated with a texting event. Once this metric crosses a threshold the camera (which is constantly recording and buffering data) system will be asked to store a portion of that data for later use.