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BlackVue Driver Monitoring System: What’s New in the Latest Update?

The BlackVue AI-powered Driver Monitoring System camera (RC1-DMS) is one of the optional cameras available for the DR770X Box Pro dash cam. It is included in the DR770X Box-3CH DMS Pro and DR770X Box-3CH DMS Truck Pro bundles. 

The DR770X Box Pro firmware version 1.004 released on January 7 focuses on improving the usability and reliability of the DMS camera. 

In this post, we go a little more in depth over the main improvements. 

Why use a DMS Camera? 

Driver monitoring and safety

The main point of the Driver Monitoring System is to provide real-time feedback and warnings to the driver when a risk is detected. In the case of the BlackVue DMS camera, the following statuses are detected: 

  • Driver absence: Event recording and push notifications
  • Distraction*: in-vehicle alerts, Event recording and push notifications
  • Drowsiness**: in-vehicle alerts, Event recording and push notifications
  • Seatbelt unfastened: in-vehicle alerts, Event recording and push notifications

As soon as the DMS camera detects a status, the front camera’s speaker emits a beep and spoken message to alert the driver. Meanwhile, push notifications are sent to the owner if the camera is connected to the Cloud.

(*) Distraction status triggers only when the GPS receives a signal and the detected speed is above the threshold speed.
(**) Drowsiness status triggers when no GPS signal is received and when a GPS signal is received and the detected speed is above the threshold speed.

Note that the Distraction and Drowsiness status detection thresholds are both set to 30 km/h (18.6 mph) by default and can be adjusted by the user between 0 and 80 km/h (49.7 mph). 
For example, if you set the threshold to 80 km/h, the dash cam will not trigger any Distraction or Drowsiness alerts when driving under 80 km/h, provided the camera is able to acquire a GPS signal. 

Vehicle interior protection

Although narrower than a standard infrared interior camera, the RC1-DMS’ field of view covers most of the vehicle’s interior. This means it is useful not only to monitor the driver but also the vehicle’s interior. That includes in Parking Mode, which can be crucial to provide proof of a break-in.

For individuals and fleet owners

The DMS camera can be a life-saving tool for commuters driving in the early hours of the day or late at night. Whoever experienced dozing off at the wheel can understand the dreadful feeling of “waking up” on a highway. Warning mechanisms like drowsiness and distraction alerts are no substitutes for restful sleep. However, we may not always have the luxury of taking a nap whenever we should. Furthermore, even if we may feel rested at first, sometimes fatigue may settle in after taking the wheel.

For businesses with a fleet, having a dash cam installed in their vehicles seems like a no-brainer. With solutions like Fleeta, the BlackVue DMS cameras unlock Drowsiness Tracking Graphs in the driving reports. Those can help easily identify drowsiness patterns and make sense of the information gathered by the cameras without having to skim through hours of video footage.

What’s new in the latest update

Improved performance

The DR770X Box firmware version 1.004 improves the overall performance and reliability of the AI algorithm driving the RC1-DMS status detection features. That translates to better accuracy when detecting statuses like Drowsiness, Distraction or Seatbelt. It also reduces the false positive rate.

Directly linked to the performance improvement, the DMS system is also more reactive, as the optimized algorithm is able to analyze scenes faster. 

Updated detection boxes

The various detection statuses show in real time at the bottom of the screen. 

Additionally, users can toggle detection boxes that highlight the driver detection area (yellow box) and their face (green box). Those detection boxes are visible in the live view and recorded footage. The update adds an orange detection box for the seatbelt. 

For anyone interested, you can find the RC1-DMS camera included in these dash cam bundles: 

Note: as of this writing, the RC1-DMS camera is supported exclusively by the DR770X Box Pro dash cam.

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