A University of Nottingham spin-out that uses AI to read faces and voices, including a driver drowsiness and attention warning system for cars.
Blueskeye AI is a company that uses artificial intelligence to analyse faces and voices. In cars, its technology watches the driver through near-infrared cameras in the car's pillars and looks at eye, head and facial muscle movement to spot early signs of tiredness. That helps carmakers meet safety rules, because European law required driver drowsiness and attention warning systems in new cars from July 2024.
The company was launched in 2019 by Professor Michel Valstar and Anthony Brown, who both held academic posts at the University of Nottingham. Valstar is its chief scientific officer. Their research on reading human behaviour from video and sound is the base for the products. The company also works in health, where the same kind of analysis is used to support mental-health assessment.
In the car industry, Valstar has described the long-term goal in these words: "Our ultimate goal is to help automotive manufacturers develop a vehicle which can respond to occupants' emotions." For now the focus is on safety, and the company validated its drowsiness warning system against the EU's sensitivity threshold with help from the University of Nottingham's driving simulator, which he said was "on our doorstep".
Blueskeye is linked to Nottingham and its university community, which suggests a UK base in the East Midlands, although the pages we read did not give a street address. It has announced a production contract with a global car maker, showing that research from a UK university can end up in vehicles on the road. The close tie to university researchers means the team includes scientists, AI engineers and people who work with test participants.
For students, Blueskeye is a neat example of how psychology, computer science and engineering meet in car safety. Jobs in a company like this include machine-learning engineers, computer-vision researchers, software testers, project managers and customer-facing technical staff. Its work with the University of Nottingham shows how a company can stay close to academic research, with the founders also helping to start the Cobot Maker Space, and the validation work shows the care needed to prove that a safety system really works before it goes into a car. Reading its news pages will show which car and health projects are in progress.
Website: blueskeye.com
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