An electronic eye on car and driver

An upcoming product from a Hyderabad startup promises to take the anxiety out of entrusting your car or fleet to drivers who may not be entirely trusted. It’s called the Vehicle Black Box and claims to be the ultimate vehicle tracking system that sits on the dashboard, for monitoring the performance of vehicle and driver behaviour. Harnessing the Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, it monitors  the speed and acceleration of the vehicle and gives detailed feedback of sharp turns, over speeding etc. More usefully it also includes a breath analyser that monitors the alcohol level of the driver. If the driver has consumed alcohol beyond a permissible limit,  the vehicle ignition gets disconnected.

Explains Cyrrup   Co-founder-CIO Aswini Rao Nunna, “This black box for vehicles works in similar fashion to a flight black box, with additional features to know the vehicle status, while providing safety and security of vehicle and its occupants.  Live camera footage helps in insurance claims, or illegal blames. We have also taken up  internal R&D work for visual analytics, which will analyse driver drowsiness This detection is done real time and a loud sound is played, which brings the driver to full alert. This will go long way in preventing accidents.”

The Vehicle Black Box is undergoing final trials and  will be available in April 2018. It is aimed at owners who trust their cars to drivers, school  bus operators, fleet owners etc.