Reckless Drivers Beware, Smart Cameras Can Catch Texting Or Calling While Driving

Chip maker Movidius is opening the floodgates for a new breed of security cameras that can recognize and understand the things they are looking at. By using Computer Vision and artificial intelligence, the company can provide cameras with the ability to recognize thieves, distinguish activities by drivers, or even know who their owner is.

Movidius is known for making computer chips which were actually used by Google for their Tango projects and by DJI to provide their Phantom 4 quadcopter with obstacle avoidance abilities. This already gave the company considerable clout in the industry, but since getting acquired by Intel, it has only grown in terms of innovation. Now, the company’s Myriad chip will be used to make Hikvision cameras into smart security devices, The Verge reports.

Bypassing most of the technical jargon, the camera system basically makes use of a specially created computer chip that allows for computer vision on the devices themselves. Thanks to the special chip called a Vision Processing Unit (VPU), the cameras can distinguish certain features on the objects they are looking at and process the information in real-time.

The Myriad chip is efficient enough not to overwhelm its accompanying transistors and other parts inside the cameras as well, which has always been the limiting factor when it comes to smart technology in mobile devices. This allows smart cameras with the VPU onboard to even recognize faces and unique features on vehicles to determine what they are.

Putting the chip on Hikvision cameras is a big deal as well. The company is the single largest security camera manufacturer in the world, Tech Crunch reports. This means that it could potentially replace 30 percent of cameras sold in the global market with ones that can recognize if a person is texting or calling on their phone while driving.

This has prompted privacy concerns because cameras that can identify threats are cameras that can identify potential targets. Governments can then use this technology to identify persons of interest among a huge crowd of people, such as the case with protest rallies.