Bipartisan Senate legislation

RNS Reach

11 August 2021

Seeing Machines Limited

Bipartisan Senate legislation includes lifesaving automotive technology provisions

New agreement would require Driver Monitoring Systems to stop distracted and drunk driving

Canberra, Australia - Today the U.S. Senate passed a bipartisan infrastructure agreement which contains key provisions to improve automotive safety. Specifically, the legislation includes the SAFE Act, introduced by Senators Markey, Blumenthal, and Klobuchar, which would require Driver Monitoring Systems (DMS) to detect distracted driving.

In addition, the legislation includes the RIDE Act, which was sponsored by Senators Rick Scott and Ben Ray Lujan which would require new cars to use advanced drunk driving technology to stop impaired driving.

"DMS is on the road today in systems like General Motor's Super Cruise™ and can tell whether the driver is engaged in the driving task or is distracted," said Seeing Machines CEO Paul McGlone.  "If the driver is distracted, driver monitoring systems have the ability to warn the driver and save lives."  

The safety provisions would require the National Highway Traffic Administration (NHTSA) to carefully research DMS systems and begin the rulemaking process to regulate this technology. 

This legislation comes at a critical time in the United States.  Early estimates from NHTSA point to a 9% increase in traffic deaths in 2020.  In 2019, 3,142 people were killed due to distracted driving, 10,142 people died by alcohol impaired driving, and 697 people were killed by drowsy driving.  DMS has the potential to reduce or eliminate all of these crashes. 

"Seeing Machines is pleased to see this progress on automotive safety," said McGlone.  "We look forward to continuing to work with the U.S. Congress and NHTSA to ensure these technologies are available to all drivers and save the maximum number of lives."

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About Seeing Machines (LSE: SEE), a global company founded in 2000 and headquartered in Australia, is an industry leader in vision-based monitoring technology that enable machines to see, understand and assist people. Seeing Machines' technology portfolio of AI algorithms, embedded processing and optics, power products that need to deliver reliable real-time understanding of vehicle operators. The technology spans the critical measurement of where a driver is looking, through to classification of their cognitive state as it applies to accident risk. Reliable "driver state" measurement is the end-goal of Driver Monitoring Systems (DMS) technology. Seeing Machines develops DMS technology to drive safety for Automotive, Commercial Fleet, Off-road and Aviation. The company has offices in Australia, USA, Europe and Asia, and supplies technology solutions and services to industry leaders in each market vertical.

www.seeingmachines.com