South Korea’s Hyundai Mobis said on Thursday it will unveil a new automotive technology to detect drowsy-driving and self-drive the car to a safe place.

The technology dubbed Departed Driver Rescue & Exit Maneuver (DDREM) will be made public at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2018 in Las Vegas next January.

DDREM is a technology that detects a vehicle’s zigzagging or the driver’s frequent deviation from looking ahead. A sensor judges this as drowsy-driving and automatically guides the car to a safe area. This can be applied to the level 4 full self-driving system, according to the company.

Two key technologies are required to realize this system. A driver status warning (DSW) technology is applied to determine whether the driver gets drowsy with a camera installed in the cabin checking the driver`s eye blinking pattern. A driver awareness warning technology allows a front-facing camera to check if the vehicle runs out of a lane.

When it is judged drowsy driving, the vehicle switches to a self-driving mode and searches for a safe place to move the car. The car’s DDREM system employs high precision map, camera, radar and other devices to select a safety zone closest to the current location of the vehicle.

The company aims to complete its current technology development by 2021.

By Kang Young-woon and Minu Kim

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