Improving Safety inside the Unattended Car

Most automobiles have security systems that arm and secure vehicles against intruders and theft. However, none of them have systems that monitor the inside of the vehicle for occupants left unattended or restrained, such as in a child seat, while the vehicle is sitting in the driveway of a home or in a parking lot of a business. Unfortunately, we know it can be highly dangerous to leave a child or pet unattended in a vehicle for any period of time on a hot summer day.

The IoT solution to this use case was inspired by and dedicated to the children and pets left unattended in vehicles, where temperatures reached highs that were fatal or caused irreversible harm.

In this use case, a key set of sensors would monitor the inside of the unattended vehicle. The sensor array would monitor for agitated movement, distressed voice levels, low humidity, and extreme high temperature. The system would wake up on a trigger when it detects a potential problem. It would go into a listening mode to collect sensor data and send it to an aggregator to analyze if it is a problem. The aggregator would start correlating the data from multiple sensors to determine if in fact, it is at an event horizon where a living being is at risk. It starts a countdown and in parallel sends warning messages. At the end of the countdown, it would trigger alarm. The solution is Z-Wave/ZigBee, GPRS enabled and accessible over the Internet.

This solution, integrated into already-existing electronics of the vehicle, would be able to monitor the conditions within the vehicle, whether armed or not. Additionally, this solution would be integrated into and through the vehicle’s CAN bus, external Z-Wave/ZigBee hubs and/or GPRS to notify the parent and/or the caregiver and escalate to local law enforcement. In this manner, auto manufacturers could easily integrate this feature into their Connected Car, , which could prevent children and pets from being placed in harm’s way.

The solution could also provide valuable insights into conditions in a vehicle on a hot summer day before a caregiver placed a child or pet inside a vehicle. This information represented in a meaningful manner is key to educating everyone on the dangers of heat conditions in enclosed spaces, especially in vehicles. Displaying the information would help change behavior and prevent tragedy or a traumatic experience.