The car that reads your face: safer

driving for the future

BEFORE WATCHING/LISTENING

1. Use words in the word cloud to talk about the image. Feel free to add

more words related to the topic

2. How can we prevent an accident? Rank the statements below starting

from the most important for you. Discuss your answer with the class.

Better road facilities

People should be allowed to drive after the age of 21

Driving test should be more difficult

Drivers should renew their driving license every five years

One’s license should be revoked in case of a motoring offence

Only calm and patient people should drive

WATCHING/LISTENING

http://euronews.com/2014/04/29/driving-into-the-future/ (6/5/2014)

1. Watch /Listen to the video (until 02:31) and find about a new

technological breakthrough to help the reduction of car accidents.

Circle the correct answer.

The text is about

a) a new fashionable car

b) an emotion detector installed in cars targeting tired and aggressive

drivers

c) a detector used by the police to catch people who drink and drive

2. Now listen again and fill in the gaps.

Professor Jean-Philippe Thiran at Swiss technology institute EPFL in

Lausanne is testing a new emotion detector that could one day help control

road rage and wake up 1) ____________ drivers.

“Basically we have a camera, a series of lights, and we have a computer

analysing the video on real time. The first difficulty is the 2) ________

conditions. To cope with that we chose an infrared camera, which is

sensitive to the infrared and we use infrared lighting, so we get rid of the

problem of illumination and we can work day or night without any

problem.”

The detector is the result of a joint project between EPFL and French car

maker PSA Peugeot Citroen. Researchers developed an algorithm that taught

the detector to identify emotions in photographs and then tested it on live

3)______________. Tests showed 85 percent accuracy in spotting irritation.

Drowsiness is identified by monitoring 4)____________ movement.

“If the car detects that the driver is tired and getting sleepy, then the car

might start playing energetic music or change the light of the

5) ______________ to make it more aggressive. On the contrary, if the driver

is stressed then the car should, for instance play calming music.”

Olivier Pajot, the general manager of Stellab, the EPFL-PSA Peugeot Citroen

collaboration group, said an emotion detector could bridge the gap between

6)____________ and fully automated cars: “One of the intermediate steps is

a partially autonomous vehicle. That means that the vehicle will be able to

drive by itself but will still need some supervision by the driver.”

The idea of developing gadgets like these is to improve safety and

7) ____________ driver error, which is currently the leading cause of road

accidents.

QUESTIONS

1. How can this detector protect drivers from getting involved in

accidents?

2. Would you drive a car with this detector? Justify your opinion

3. Can you think of more characteristics cars of the future could have?

FOLLOW-UP

Choose one of the following

1. Interview the scientist who works on this device

2. Research on the internet about other innovations helping to reduce

car accidents

3. Create an ad/a brochure about this detector

TEACHER’S NOTES AND KEY

BEFORE WATCHING/LISTENING

1. Explain the vocabulary in the word cloud and help your students

brainstorm more vocabulary (parts of a car, ways of driving,

emergency etc.)

dashboard, boot, headlights, to slam on the brakes, to pull out, to

pull over, ambulance, stretcher etc.

2. Answers vary according to students

WATCHING/LISTENING

1. The correct answer is b

Professor Jean-Philippe Thiran at Swiss technology institute EPFL in

Lausanne is testing a new emotion detector that could one day help control

road rage and wake up drowsy drivers.

“Basically we have a camera, a series of lights, and we have a computer

analysing the video on real time. The first difficulty is the light conditions.

To cope with that we chose an infrared camera, which is sensitive to the

infrared and we use infrared lighting, so we get rid of the problem of

illumination and we can work day or night without any problem.”

The detector is the result of a joint project between EPFL and French car

maker PSA Peugeot Citroen. Researchers developed an algorithm that taught

the detector to identify emotions in photographs and then tested it on live

volunteers Tests showed 85 percent accuracy in spotting irritation.

Drowsiness is identified by monitoring eyelid movement.

“If the car detects that the driver is tired and getting sleepy, then the car

might start playing energetic music or change the light of the

dashboard to make it more aggressive. On the contrary, if the driver is

stressed then the car should, for instance play calming music.”

Olivier Pajot, the general manager of Stellab, the EPFL-PSA Peugeot Citroen

collaboration group, said an emotion detector could bridge the gap between

manual and fully automated cars: “One of the intermediate steps is a

partially autonomous vehicle. That means that the vehicle will be able to

drive by itself but will still need some supervision by the driver.”

The idea of developing gadgets like these is to improve safety and

eliminate driver error, which is currently the leading cause of road

accidents.

QUESTIONS

1. Detects emotions and drowsiness of the drivers and acts accordingly.

2. Answers vary according to students

3. Cars of the future will not run on petrol, will fly, will give drivers

notice of forthcoming dangers, will adjust automatically to weather

conditions etc.

Created by Eleni Tsagari

www.esl-cake.blogspot.gr