Accenture, Faurecia and Affectiva are collaborating to innovate driver safety and in-car infotainment for occupants. The “Connected Car Lab” is a digital product and service innovation facility that fits into a car to allow Faurecia, one of the world’s leading automotive technology companies, to ideate, test and develop applications and experiences for the car cabin of the future.
The Connected Car Lab, which was developed with help from Accenture Industry X.0, features a connected vehicle platform that gathers data about driver behavior and conditions inside the car cabin as well as outside the vehicle. By using artificial intelligence (AI) and other innovative technologies — including integrated smart sensors, wearables and in-car video cameras — the data is used to detect and assist the driver with safety issues, such as drowsiness, attention, posture discomfort and temperature.
Accenture and Faurecia are using the “Connected Car Lab” to reinvent the consumer driving experience by feeding real driving data back into the design and engineering of future products and services, which makes it the latest test bed for cutting-edge digital services.
Developed at Faurecia’s Digital Service Factory with the support of Accenture, the Connected Car Lab leverages Affectiva’s Automotive AI to unobtrusively monitor emotional and cognitive states of the driver and other passengers from facial and vocal expressions. Affectiva is a Human Perception AI pioneer. These and other innovative digital technologies enable enhanced safety and always-on connectivity.
Maxence Tilliette, a managing director for Industry X.0, Accenture Industrial, said, “People are expecting the same level of comfort, safety, connectivity and entertainment in their cars as they get at home or in the office. The Connected Car Lab is an environment where we can quickly design, test, measure and improve onboard services. These production cars are equipped with a custom developed IoT platform that collects data from many sensors and that can also provide feedback through various actuators. This platform is agile and very flexible by design to allow us to quickly add and test new on-board experiences, powered by sensors, actuators and AI models.”
Gregoire Ferré, Chief Digital Officer of Faurecia, said: “This collaboration with Accenture is helping us to accelerate our digital transformation. The Digital Service Factory, co-hosted by Accenture and Faurecia, is helping our Product Development teams embrace new technologies and new ways of working. A multi-disciplinary team consisting of designers, developers, data scientist and business analysts is working together to develop great product innovation tools like the Connected Car Lab.”
“We’re delighted to be part of Accenture and Faurecia’s Connected Car Lab”, said Dr. Rana el Kaliouby, co-founder and CEO of Affectiva. “In next-generation vehicles, it will be critical for cars to understand what’s happening with the people inside of them to ensure road safety and optimize the in-cabin experience. Integrated with a platform like the Connected Car Lab, Affectiva’s Human Perception AI will unlock this awareness of all things human inside a vehicle, through a deep understanding of occupants’ moods, emotions, cognitive states, activities, interactions and more.”
About Accenture
Accenture is a leading global professional services company, providing a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. Combining unmatched experience and specialized skills across more than 40 industries and all business functions — underpinned by the world’s largest delivery network — Accenture works at the intersection of business and technology to help clients improve their performance and create sustainable value for their stakeholders. With 477,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries, Accenture drives innovation to improve the way the world works and lives. Visit us at www.accenture.com.
About Faurecia
Founded in 1997, Faurecia has grown to become a major player in the global automotive industry. With around 300 sites including 35 R&D centers and 122,000 employees in 37 countries, Faurecia is a global leader in its four areas of business: Seating, Interiors, Clarion Electronics and Clean Mobility. Faurecia has focused its technology strategy on providing solutions for the “Cockpit of the Future” and “Sustainable Mobility”. In 2018, the Group posted sales of €17.5 billion. Faurecia is listed on the Euronext Paris stock exchange and is a component of the CAC Next 20 index. For more information, please visit www.faurecia.com.
About Affectiva
Affectiva envisions a world where technology understands all things human. An MIT Media Lab spin-off, Affectiva created and defined the Emotion AI category. Having evolved beyond emotion detection, Affectiva is the pioneer of Human Perception AI: software that can detect nuanced human emotions, complex cognitive states, activities, interactions and objects people use. Built on deep learning, computer vision, speech science and massive amounts of real-world data, Affectiva’s Human Perception AI is enabling leading automotive OEMs, Tier 1 suppliers, ridesharing providers and fleet management companies to build intelligent vehicles that can perceive all things happening with the people inside of them. Affectiva’s technology is also used by 25 percent of the Fortune Global 500 companies to test consumer engagement with ads, videos and TV programming.
