Eye tracking has now become one of the hottest trends in tech. From cars, to phones, to wearables, eye tracking has made its way into more than just novelty items. Most importantly, the technology isn’t just cool; it’s also beneficial and is being used to secure devices, help patients, and even prevent loss of life on the road.
A bit of background
Interestingly but not surprisingly, eye tracking began taking hold in the late 80s and early 90s, where it was being used in the marketing industry to determine the effectiveness of advertising. In 1990, an eye tracking system developed by Gallup Applied Sciences was used on an NFL analyst as well as a number of football fans in order to see which parts of the game they paid attention to and which ones they missed. Throughout the next decade, eye-tracking continued to be used in the context of advertising, including video game advertising. In 2001, Tobii Technology, a Swedish high-tech company, began pioneering in the field of eye tracking and eye control. The company’s goal was to create technology that worked seamlessly and intuitively with the human body, with a focus on the human eye. Today, Tobii has partnered with a number of major companies and retailers across several different industries in order to create devices such as the eye controlled computer.
Eye tracking in vehicles
One industry in which eye tracking has a lot of potential to have major impact is the automotive industry. Self-driving cars have arrived, in a manner of speaking, but haven’t quite made their way into the mainstream just yet. There is a great deal of development and testing that has to go into these vehicles before they are released to the general public on a large scale. Until that happens, there is still an issue that even partially autonomous vehicles can’t avoid, and that’s human error. In order to combat this issue and thus ultimately reduce the high number of vehicle-related injuries and deaths that occur each year, General Motors will be releasing its Super Cruise system in one of its Cadillac models. According to an article published by the Wall Street Journal, Super Cruise is said to rival Tesla’s Autopilot systems by also addressing the driver’s level of alertness, rather than just focusing on the abilities of the vehicle itself. Super Cruise software is able to determine whether the driver is falling asleep, and then provide them with the appropriate alerts in order to wake them. If the driver still fails to respond after all attempts are made to get their attention, the car will automatically pull over to the side of the road so as to prevent an accident. GM has set a precedent for eye tracking in vehicles, as both Audi and Volkswagen will launch their own eye tracking systems not so long after.
Other applications and beyond
Many other developments are being made in eye tracking technology. This includes eye controlled phones, which will allow users to scroll and perform other functions with their eyes. This same concept is being applied to a number of other devices, as well as video games. Eye tracking is also being used to assist those with disabilities to be able to do things like vote and participate in events, and is used by medical professionals for monitoring purposes. It is clear that an exciting few years lie ahead for eye tracking technology and its range of applications, therefore this may be an ideal time to consider investing in the technology for the long term.
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