Interview Passing the Baton of Technology and Passion A Young Team’s
DMS Development Story
(Part 2)

I think that’s when I see a DMS installed in a new car and the system featured as a selling point on automakers’ websites and in their brochures. I feel that our technologies are contributing to improving vehicle safety and to our customers’ vehicle sales.

When I tell my family and friends about what I do, those who have experienced traffic accidents or near misses because of distracted driving almost always say “DMS is a good feature to have.” The value of this product is especially apparent to people who have experienced such frightening situations themselves. Also, I believe that this product contributes to all drivers’ safety by reducing the number of people who experience such frightening situations.

As well as contributing to the drivers’ safety, as Yamasaki-san described, I think that DMS can help society in a wider range of fields. At the moment, I am also involved in a human monitoring system in parallel with DMS. As the name suggests, this system monitors the safety of people in general, not only drivers, by utilizing DMS sensing technologies. For example, when used for visual inspections on the production floor, this system can prevent errors and accidents by sensing people’s gaze direction and facial orientation. Going forward, I hope DMS sensing technologies will be more widely used throughout society, in fields such as healthcare, in addition to manufacturing.

At this very moment, I am involved in a project to utilize sensing data collected and analyzed by DMS across a variety of fields, with the goal of creating long-term value for Mitsubishi Electric Mobility. More specifically, we are exploring value-added services by leveraging a technology that visualizes drivers' safe driving scores. These services could support initiatives such as driver safety coaching, early detection of signs of changes in cognitive function in older drivers and helping older drivers improve their driving ability. In Japan, drivers aged 75 and older are required to undergo cognitive function testing when renewing their licenses. By utilizing DMS, driving ability can be assessed objectively, making it a valuable tool for driver's license centers as well.

Rather than feeling that DMS is already making a contribution, I find myself hoping it will do so in the future every time I see traffic accident news. I sometimes wonder if this was caused by driver distraction, and if it could have been avoided with a DMS installed onboard. I hope that DMS, which have passed through the inspection equipment that I worked hard to bring into operation, will be installed in as many vehicles as possible to help reduce tragic accidents.

Actually, I was thinking the same thing as Kuwahara-san. In fact, what motivated me to apply to Mitsubishi Electric Mobility was the hope that I could help reduce tragic traffic accidents. It may be an indirect contribution, but when the DMS I proposed to customers is installed in vehicles and helps protect the drivers, I feel that this is a major source of motivation in my work.

Yes. I had been interested in DMS before I joined the company, but as I learned more about the product during new employment training, I became even more interested in working on DMS, which helps reduce tragic accidents.

I feel that seeing someone like Oiwa-san become interested in working on DMS may itself be a contribution to society. I personally feel that my work is contributing to society when we receive positive feedback from customers when we make public announcements, or when I see many positive comments on social media from general users. In those moments, I feel that we are creating something society is looking for and people need.

Current DMS technology is primarily focused on monitoring a driver’s gaze and other behaviors. However, development is already underway on a camera system that can monitor all occupants. This is a product called an OMS (occupant monitoring system). By installing dedicated cameras in the ceiling of a vehicle, it is possible to monitor all occupants, including those in the front passenger seat and rear seats. This can help prevent occupants from failing to fasten their seat belts, as well as children from being left unattended in the rear seats. For now, we expect to install two to four cameras in a vehicle, including a DMS camera, but eventually, the system may be able to operate with a single camera.

As Yamasaki-san said, OMS represents a vision of the future for DMS. However, it is also true that there are technical hurdles standing in our way. For instance, to realize an OMS, we need a wide-angle camera with an angle of view of nearly 180 degrees. In other words, the scope of monitoring from the driver to all occupants dramatically increases the technical difficulty. To overcome these challenges, we are examining equipment specifications and developing inspection technologies, but those are not the only challenges. How can we keep the resulting increase in costs under control? Keeping costs down is another vital requirement for the product to become widespread. If I am unable to achieve this myself, I hope that the next generation of engineers will achieve this.

Oh, no. You really should make it happen! (laughs). In the future, as DMS becomes more widely adopted and the mandatory installation of DMS becomes more widespread, competition in performance, quality and price will intensify. I believe that first of all, we need to build a foundation across the entire company that can withstand this competition. As the technology continues to evolve, OMS, which we have been discussing, will become commonplace and expand into applications beyond automobiles. At Mitsubishi Electric Mobility, we want to use sensing data to stay close to people and help solve social challenges across all aspects of daily life.

That sounds like a vision for the future of the business model I am involved in.

Exactly. In the manufacturing sites of the near future, I expect dark factories that operate around the clock without human workers to become increasingly common. However, the performance of humanoid robots is currently inferior to that of humans in some respects. If human sensing data is fed into robots, I expect their accuracy and performance to improve dramatically. I want DMS to be more than just a technology for driving safety. I want it to become a technology that creates new offerings based on sensing data. That’s the vision I have for the future of DMS.

As Kagawa-san said, DMS has high potential as a core technology. In the future, it will also be used to help solve social problems, such as detecting changes in cognitive function among older people, as Ueda-san said. Precisely because DMS has the potential to benefit people from all walks of life, I am hoping to raise awareness. Unfortunately, when I mention to my acquaintances that I work on DMS development, few people understand what it actually is. It is my wish and goal for the development, manufacturing and sales teams to work together to raise awareness of DMS.

DMS is a project that will remain a lifelong memory for me.
I learned about a product called DMS and chose this company because I wanted to work on it. I was given the opportunity to be involved in this project from my first year as a working professional. Even if I take charge of other products in the future, I will never forget this product. That is how important it is to me.

DMS is what has helped me grow.
Being able to participate at this age in this project that Mitsubishi Electric Mobility is investing so much in has given me a major opportunity to grow both professionally and personally. Above all, I enjoy working as a DMS sales representative. That is what matters most to me.

DMS is a rival that grows alongside me.
DMS was the first project I worked on as the person in charge, and it gave me the opportunity to grow significantly as an engineer. At the same time, DMS is also continuing to evolve. I see it as something I can continue to grow alongside while taking on challenges together with it.

DMS is something that will become commonplace in the future.
I believe that it will become even more widely adopted and eventually be installed as standard equipment not only in my own car, but also in the cars of my family members and friends. When that time comes, I hope DMS will be a product known by everyone, so that I can proudly say that I am a member of its development team.

DMS is a partner with which I can continue to challenge and improve myself.
Like Oiwa-san, I had wanted to be involved in DMS hardware development since before joining the company. Because both DMS and I are still “young,” I feel that we can grow together. From now on, I will continue to pursue even greater heights through repeated trial and error.

DMS is simply something I am proud of.
DMS is well suited to AI, and the potential of the data obtained from it is truly limitless. Without a doubt, I believe that DMS will become a key pillar supporting Mitsubishi Electric Mobility in the future. I am proud to be a part of the DMS business and fully committed to it.

DMS has potential for the future.
Mitsubishi Electric Mobility entered the DMS market ahead of its competitors and went through a number of failures. I believe that we were able to gain a significant share of the global market by learning from those mistakes. As my colleagues here said, DMS has huge potential and is only destined to grow. How far will our proud DMS expand? I will continue to watch it with my own eyes. Please look forward to the further evolution of DMS.