Smart Eye will pay $73.5 million for Affectiva in a cash-and-stock deal.

Affectiva says 9 people are killed every day and 1,000 are injured due to distracted driving. 6,000 people are killed annually due to drowsy driving. Its Affectiva Automotive AI is an In-Cabin Sensing software that measures in real-time the state of the cabin, and that of the driver and occupants in it. Swedish company Smart Eye will acquire Affectiva to gain global leadership in automotive-grade Interior Sensing AI. (BusinessWire)

AI for 360-degree monitoring of the cabin

Affectiva’s cabin monitoring solution detects complex and nuanced emotions and cognitive states, such as drowsiness and distraction, to occupancy, activity, object, and child seat detection.

OEMs, Tier 1s, ridesharing providers, and fleet management companies can deliver optimized occupant experiences and advanced safety features using Affectiva AI, says the company.

Smart Eye can effectively use this technology in its automotive-grade Driver Monitoring Systems (DMS) that use AI-based eye tracking. It already has 84 production contracts with 12 of the 20 largest global OEMs.

Emotion AI

“As we watched the DMS category evolve into Interior Sensing, monitoring the whole cabin, we quickly recognized Affectiva as a major player to watch,” said Martin Krantz, Founder and CEO of Smart Eye in a statement. “Its pioneering work in establishing the field of Emotion AI has served as a powerful platform for bringing this technology to market at scale. At the end of the day, this is about saving lives and bridging the gap between humans and machines.”

The combined company will also benefit from the existing, profitable revenue streams accruing from Affectiva’s Media Analytics business that has 70% of the world’s largest advertisers as customers.

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