Hitachi testing breath-alcohol detector equipped with facial recognition

Hitachi has been field testing a new smart phone-connected breath-alcohol detection device which is equipped with facial recognition so it can prevent drivers from using a substitute to take the test. The device can confirm if the person who took the breath test is the same as the one driving by having the smartphone take another facial image once the driver is in the vehicle.

Hitachi sees the corporate driving environment – including taxi and parcel delivery firms – as a significant market for the device, which is due to be introduced commercially in August.

Over the past few months, the device has been put through its pace in field tests involving employees at three sales offices of Hitachi Capital Auto Lease.

In a statement issued yesterday (12 June), Hitachi added: “Application software was developed to transmit the breath-based alcohol test results from the detection devices to smartphones and aggregate the data. Safety administrators can download the log data related to aggregated time of test, presence or absence of alcohol, mobile terminal ID, etc. to a smartphone or PC, thus raising management efficiency and enabling remote management of alcohol inspection.”