The Nice-based company Ellcie Healthy has designed AI-empowered glasses, which are capable of detecting signs that a driver is falling asleep at the wheel and waking him/her with a flashing red LED light, or with a sound buzzer embedded in the frame. The glasses are equipped with a gyroscope, an accelerometer and infrared thermal and light sensors, allowing it to determine the time when the driver needs to take a break due to its synchronization with smartphone.
The founder of the startup Philippe Peyrard promised that improving vision would merely be one of numerous functions of his smart glasses.
“There will be more and more apps as we wear glasses all the time, very close to us, and 60 percent of the adult population wears them,” he told French business media Les Echos back in September 2017.
According to Peyrard, the glasses can be worn or fitted to a regular pair of corrective lenses and can operate for around 24 hours before being recharged. The glasses are expected to go on sale next month across France; the price will be approximately 250 euros (around $307).
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Provisional figures show that a total of 3,693 died in 2017 on France’s roads; nearly a third of all fatal accidents on motorways are reportedly caused by drivers’ drowsiness.