---
title: "New Camera Inside Cars Detects If You’ve Been Drinking"
description: " A team of Australian scientists have cooked up a new AI-driven camera system that can detect whether you are too drunk to drive a vehicle."
date: "2024-07-18"
modified: "2024-07-18"
authors:
  - name: "Sharon Adarlo"
    job_title: "Correspondent"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/sadarlo"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/camera-cars-detects-drinking"
categories:
  - "Artificial Intelligence"
tags:
  - "ai"
  - "artificial intelligence"
  - "machine learning"
  - "the digest"
---

# New Camera Inside Cars Detects If You’ve Been Drinking

![ A team of Australian scientists have cooked up a new AI-driven camera system that can detect whether you are too drunk to drive a vehicle.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/camera-cars-detects-drinking.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Getty / Futurism\</em\>*

## Eye See You

A team of Australian scientists have cooked up a new AI-driven camera system that can detect whether you are too drunk to drive a vehicle.

But the project isn't quite ready for wide use with only 75 percent accuracy, according to the researchers out of Edith Cowan University in Western Australia, who had presented this [camera project](<https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10484402>) at a [computer vision conference](<https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/conhome/10483279/proceeding>) earlier this year.

The research, [flagged by *TechSpot*](<https://www.techspot.com/news/103834-new-camera-based-system-can-detect-alcohol-impairment.html>), might still have ways to go in terms of accuracy, but the scientists say the technology is promising for preventing alcohol-driven accidents.

"This not only benefits vehicles equipped with driver monitoring systems and eye-tracking technologies but also has the potential to extend to smartphones, making alcohol intoxication detection more effective," said Edith Cowan University doctoral student and lead study author Ensiyeh Keshtkaran in a [statement about the research](<https://www.ecu.edu.au/newsroom/articles/research/ecu-researchers-develop-visual-tracking-technology-to-detect-drink-drivers>).

## Big Brother

The researchers compiled a data set of videos showing 60 people in various stages of soberness and alcohol intoxication. The researchers then trained a machine learning system to detect drunken impairment from these videos.

It's a great concept, but the low accuracy is obviously a major problem. Edge cases are also likely to be an issue: will it struggle, for instance, to tell the difference between drunk drivers and people with disabilities?

There's also the [delicate matter of privacy](<https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/23/how-to-stop-your-internet-connected-car-from-selling-your-driving-data.html>). What's happening to the data that vehicles collect from cameras recording drivers and passengers? It's not a theoretical question, with cars already collecting [enormous amounts of data](<https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/09/technology/driver-scores-insurance-data-apps.html>) about drivers.

And at the end of the day, there's already reliable tech to prevent drunk drivers from getting into a wreck: [breathalyzers to unlock ignitions in vehicles](<https://dui.drivinglaws.org/interlock.php>).

**More on AI:** [*Driverless Cars Are Biased Against Dark-skinned People and Kids, Scientists Say*](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/driverless-cars-biased>)