It is not uncommon these days to hear about companies, who, after working for years to develop innovative, life-changing ideas, have repurposed them temporarily (and maybe permanently) as a result of the pandemic.
Sometimes though, these shifts can be mind-boggling. So, when a leading company in the autonomous vehicle industry repurposed its visible-light and thermal auto cameras into a mass screening solution for the detection of COVID-19 symptoms, there's no wonder we got curious.
Since 2015, Foresight Autonomous Holdings has been engaged in the design, development and commercialization of sensor systems for the automotive industry.
Simulation of body temperature check by thermoscan or infrared thermal camera
The system is designed to detect up to six symptoms associated with the COVID-19 virus. GETTY For the past five years, the company has been working to improve driving safety by enabling highly accurate and reliable threat detection and ensure the lowest rates of false alerts.
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Its "in-line-of-sight" vision sensor, for example, is a four-camera system based on 3D video analysis, advanced algorithms for image processing, and sensor fusion. Its "beyond-line-of-sight" cellular-based application is a V2X (vehicle-to-everything) accident prevention solution based on real-time spatial analysis of drivers’ movement.
As the Coronavirus struck, in addition to its ongoing work to develop multiple automotive vision systems, the company decided to use its thermal cameras and AI expertise to enable mass screening for the detection of COVID-19 symptoms.