Eye-tracking pioneer Smart Eye acquires MIT spin-off Affectiva to augment driver monitoring systems and more

Emotion-detection software start-up Affectiva acquired for $73.5M (TechCrunch): Smart Eye, the publicly traded Swedish company that supplies driver monitoring systems for a dozen automakers, has acquired emotion-detection software startup Affectiva for $73.5 million in a cash-and-stock deal. Affectiva, which spun out of the MIT Media Lab in 2009, has developed software that can detect and understand human emotion, which Smart Eye is keen to combine with its own AI-based eye-tracking technology. The companies’ founders see an opportunity to expand beyond driver monitoring systems — tech that is often used in conjunction with advanced driver assistance systems to track and measure awareness — and into the rest of the vehicle. Together, the technology could help them break into the emerging “interior sensing” market, which can be used to monitor the entire cabin of a vehicle and deliver services in response to the occupant’s emotional state … The opportunity will initially be in passenger vehicles driven by humans and will eventually expand as greater levels of automated driving enter the market. The Announcement: Smart Eye Acquires Affectiva to Solidify Stronghold on Interior Sensing Market (press release): The companies are merging to create a transatlantic AI juggernaut that will lead and accelerate the growth and development of the rapidly evolving automotive Interior Sensing market, as well as the Media Analytics and Human Factors Research markets. Smart Eye h...
Source: SharpBrains - Category: Neuroscience Authors: Tags: Peak Performance Technology & Innovation Affectiva driver monitoring emotional state eye-tracking Human-Factors interior sensing MIT MIT-Media-Lab neurotechnologies Neurotechnology Smart Eye Source Type: blogs