BMW has filed a patent application with the European Patent Office outlining a smoke-detection system that can determine whether a vehicle’s interior glass surfaces have been contaminated with cigarette smoke or vape vapors, recommending when the glass surfaces should be cleaned.
Detecting Smoking and Vaping
BMW’s integrated in-car system uses a camera and a processing unit to perform image recognition, thereby detecting smoking. The system can recognize cigarette smoking and vaping, and keeps track of the following parameters to determine the level of contamination in the car’s cabin:
- The frequency of smoking
- The type of smoke
- Whether the windows were opened while smoking
- Whether the smoker activated the ventilation system
Keeping Interior Glass Clear and Smoke-Free
Based on this data, the system can determine the level of contamination, and suggest when it’s time to clean the interior glass surfaces from the fine misting and smoke deposits that inevitably stick to them when coming in contact with smoke. This can be especially useful for car-sharing services and rental companies to determine the cleanliness of their vehicles’ interiors and to detect what level the glass and interior trim has been subjected to smoke. It can act as a useful guide to keep car interiors cleaner and glass surfaces clear and free of smoke deposits.
Smoke Detection Could Revolutionize Car-Sharing Services
We imagine it would also be useful to detect smoking in shared vehicles in which smoking is not allowed, and enable rental or car-sharing companies to enforce non-smoking rules and issue penalties for transgression. Whether this may be in conflict with privacy legislation in certain markets, and to what extent camera-detection systems may be used in cars with multiple users will be for the market in question to determine. Just like smoke detectors in aircraft toilets where smoking is not allowed, we’d imagine smoke detectors in cars can be a useful tool to regulate it, and will likely be subject to similar legislation.
