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KARIYA, Aichi Prefecture–A leading auto parts maker here developed a car-mounted radar system that triggers an alarm if it detects that a toddler has been left inside the automobile.
Aisin Corp., an affiliate of Toyota Motor Corp., plans to make the device commercially available around 2025.
It said it hopes to prevent children from dying of heatstroke while trapped inside cars during sweltering temperatures.
“We will use our technologies to save the lives of kids,” said an Aisin representative involved in the system’s development. “We hope such equipment will be adopted broadly in Japan.”
To build the system, Aisin worked with an Israeli start-up that has expertise in high-precision radio wave technology.
The radar unit, installed on automobiles’ ceilings, can differentiate between adults, children and animals based on their sizes. It can also identify subtle movements, such as the heaving of children’s chests when they breathe.
When the system detects children alone in the car, it flashes the headlights and sounds the horn as a warning to the absent-minded driver.
Although toddlers are typically secured in child seats in the rear, the radar covers the entire interior just in case the children have moved to the front seats or elsewhere, an Aisin development official said.
Aisin is now asking automakers for their opinions and moving toward the final phase to mass-producing the device.
Development of the system started in 2018, when the United States was planning to make such child-detection equipment mandatory for vehicles by the mid-2020s.
According to Aisin, some European parties are also calling for the inclusion of detection systems among the safety features of newly marketed vehicles.
Aisin said a U.S. survey covering the 30 years to 2021 showed that an average of 40 children a year died after being left inside vehicles. In more than half of the cases, the drivers did not notice that the children remained in the automobiles.
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