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New camera-based system can detect alcohol impairment in drivers by checking their faces | Resting drunk face

Researchers at Edith Cowan University in Australia are developing a new technology that uses camera footage to detect whether a driver is alcohol impaired.

In a paper that was published earlier this year, the team describes how they devised an in-vehicle machine learning system that harnesses standard commercial RGB cameras to predict critical levels of blood alcohol concentration. The system is an improvement over current driver-impairment identification methods that rely on factors such as pedal usage, steering patterns, and vehicle speeds, meaning they only work once someone has been driving for an extended time. "Our system has the capability to identify intoxication levels at the beginning of a drive, allowing for the potential prevention of impaired drivers from being on the road," said Ensiyeh Keshtkaran, a doctoral student at Edith Cowan University, Australia, who contributed to the project.

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