One of the major innovations being demonstrated this week at CES in Las Vegas involves technology being tested in Livingston County.

Formerly known as the Consumer Electronics Show, the annual trade show is organized by the Consumer Technology Association and held every January at the Las Vegas Convention Center with presentations of new products and technologies in the consumer electronics industry.

Brian Schneble of Brighton is the Director of Sales Development and Marketing for Aisin Group of North America, which operates the Fowlerville Proving Ground. Recently that facility constructed a test track for autonomous vehicles. Schneble tells WHMI that one of the new systems they are demonstrating is driver emotion analysis that utilizes facial recognition technology and can tell if a driver is distracted and vibrate the seat to get their attention. The system can also detect if a driver has fallen asleep and if vibrating the seat or sounding an alarm doesn't prompt them to resume control of the vehicle, can slowly pull it over and bring it to a stop as well as call for emergency assistance.

Schneble says another version of the same technology can pinpoint where everyone is inside the vehicle at the precise moment of a crash and deploy the airbags accordingly. Schneble says the reaction to the new systems at CES has been very positive and the challenge now will be to begin factoring in the human element as they continue testing at the Fowlerville Proving Ground. (JK)