Volvo Invests in AI Solution for Driver Monitoring
Volvo is betting on artificial intelligence (AI) to better monitor driver behavior and advance its long-stated Vision Zero mission to end all deaths by traffic accident.
The automaker has now made a strategic investment in CorrActions, an Israeli deep-tech brain monitoring AI start-up, which has developed a technology that the company believes will disrupt brain activity monitoring and may help to better understand drivers’ behavior. Software built by CorrActions claims to detect abnormalities in the cognitive state of drivers and passengers, based on micro muscle movements that reflect brain activity. By using existing sensors in, for example, the steering wheel, such movements can hint at a variety of cognitive symptoms, including a driver being distracted, intoxicated or overly tired.
Through the automaker’s corporate venture capital arm, Volvo Cars Tech Fund, it is leading CorrActions’ latest funding round after testing its software and aims to continue collaborating further. Alexander Petrofski, head of the fund, said: “With the Tech Fund, we aim to be a strategic partner of choice for exciting start-ups that can help boost our position as a tech leader in our industry. CorrActions fits the bill perfectly and focusses on a mission that is close to our heart: making cars and the people in and around them safer.”
— Paul Myles is a seasoned automotive journalist based in Europe. Follow him on Twitter @Paulmyles_
