By Roland Piquepaille
Cars able to sense our emotions and to take corrective actions if we feel too angry, frustrated or sleepy, could be on the market in two years. These cars will probably not be named HAL-9000, so we should be able to stop them if they're bothering us. But according to this article from the Scotsman, "So are you in the mood for a drive?" such cars could be built by Toyota with the help of Affective Media, a Scottish company. Many modern cars already have voice-animated systems allowing the driver to control a CD-player, fans or heaters. With the addition of this new voice recognition software, our cars will detect when we're too quiet and try to wake us up. If we start to be too excited, for any reason, like because we're stuck in a traffic jam or listening to great rock music, the car will automatically switch the stereo to 'calming' music. Would you like to drive such a car, or do you hate the concept?Here are the opening paragraphs from the Scotsman article.
Machines which respond to their owners' emotions may seem like science fiction fantasy
But, while the 'living' androids portrayed in the blockbuster film I, Robot may never be built, one Lothians firm has developed an "emotion sensor" which could help cars of the future make better drivers out of us.
The computer software -- which could soon be used in Toyota cars -- can take steps to tackle potential road rage and drowsiness. The system works by monitoring the driver's speech for signs of certain types of behaviour and taking appropriate action.
If it detects drowsiness, for instance, through signs such as quiet, flat speech, it can trigger an alarm or bring up another suitable prompt to rouse the driver. Alternatively, if the voice shows signs of stress, it can take steps to calm the driver down, by over-riding the car's air-conditioning or playing soothing music.
But why putting such systems in a car? A prime reason appears to be safety.
Vehicles using it could hit the road within two years. Affective Media chief executive Christian Jones said prototypes were being fitted to trial vehicles and claimed the system could be a life-saver. "Studies show unhappy or angry drivers are more prone to accidents than drivers who are relaxed," he said.
[And] a spokesman for the AA said that, while the organisation had some reservations, any technology which improved safety on the road was to be welcomed.
The Scottish company which developed the technology is also looking at other markets.
The in-car system is just one of the applications the company is exploring. Call-centre operators are also working with Affective Media on a system to monitor the emotions of callers and Mr Jones says a system that is 100 per cent accurate could be used to help emergency services screen bogus callers.
You can try by yourself Affective Media's technology by loading this emotion recognition demo. It analyses a 4-second sample of your voice and tells you what is your mood. I repeated the test half a dozen times, whispering, yelling or laughing. I always got the same answer: your voice expresses 100% sadness. Needless to say, I'm not impressed with this demo. But it doesn't mean that the real technology is not working fine.
Of course, the real technology can run just fine. Anyway, an in-car system which would start to change the music I'm listening to without asking me would probably have a limited life span.
Sources: Gareth Edwards, The Scotsman, January 17, 2005; and Affective Media website
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