In-cabin sensing

Discover ams OSRAM’s broad portfolio for in-cabin sensing from industry-leading infrared (IR) illumination solutions based on LED and VCSEL technologies to capacitive sensors that detect hands on the steering wheel for automated driving. With our in-cabin expertise, we support our customers.

Driver monitoring and interior monitoring

Driver monitoring systems (DMS)

Driver monitoring systems (DMS) are rapidly emerging to ensure road safety and enhance driver experience. Two mobility megatrends, safety and autonomous driving, are supported by regulatory bodies like the European Union and the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) which require car manufacturers to adopt driver monitoring systems. Since 2023, the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP) has made direct DMS a key enabler for achieving a 5 star safety rating. Key functions assessed include driver drowsiness detection and reduced driver alertness.      
Apart from the safety enhancing aspects, DMS can support comfort-related features like driver identification and authentication or adjust augmented-reality heads-up displays for a better driving experience. Also detecting if the driver’s hands are on the steering wheel gets more and more important with >L2+ automated driving functions coming into volume.
Infrared illumination plays a central role in enabling camera based driver monitoring systems. With the launch of the OSLON Black IR:6 C series, ams OSRAM expands its automotive infrared portfolio with high power 940 nm IR LEDs featuring reduced red glow at chip level. This supports reliable driver monitoring performance under low light and night time conditions while maintaining high user acceptance inside the vehicle.

More about OSLON Black IR:6 C series
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Interior/occupant monitoring systems (IMS/OMS)

With upcoming occupant-related safety standards and increasing vehicle autonomy, interior monitoring systems are also valued for gathering a sophisticated scene understanding of the vehicle's interior. In particular, occupant monitoring and child presence detection features are included in the NCAP roadmap: these are used for seat-belt reminder, adaptive airbag deployment, or reminding parents of children who are left-behind in parked cars. 
These safety related features are complemented by interior convenience and interaction use cases, which has created demand for wide field of view, camera based systems positioned along the vehicle’s interior axis. In some cases, these systems also integrate driver monitoring functionality, enabling multifunctional in cabin sensing architectures and opening the path to more advanced interior intelligence.
Reliable and unobtrusive infrared illumination is a key enabler for these systems. ams OSRAM’s infrared light sources are designed to support robust interior and occupant monitoring performance while remaining almost imperceptible to drivers and passengers, especially during night time operation.

System architectures

Various system architectures can be used to realize in-cabin sensing systems: from 2D NIR imaging-based NCAP- and regulation-compliant systems up to more advanced 3D-capable designs like active stereo vision (ASV), structured light (SL), and indirect time of flight (iToF).
The most common in-cabin sensing systems are realized with 2D NIR imaging cameras and use IR LEDs as emitters.

3D-sensing systems  also use flood illumination, however with different constraints. Whereas ASV has similar IR illumination needs as 2D imaging, SL-based systems require an additional dot pattern projector for depth extraction, which is best realized using VCSEL-based illuminators. The iToF systems on the other hand benefit greatly from VCSELs fast rise-and-fall times which are needed for robust and high resolution iToF systems.

Most in-cabin sensing systems today operate at 940 nm wavelength. The choice of illumination technology, light path design, and wavelength, requires careful consideration and this is where ams OSRAM provides design support in close partnership with customers, thanks to extensive expertise in system design with both technologies and wavelengths.

ams OSRAM offering

ams OSRAM offers an extensive range of illumination and sensing solutions, like the OSLON Black and SYNIOS families of IR LEDs, which leads the market in IR Illumination, or TARA2000-AUT-SAFE, the first AECQ-102 qualified VCSEL module flood illuminator in the market with an interlock function to ensure eye safety, in mass production for many customers since Q2-2021. The ams OSRAM AS8579 capacitive sensor uses a novel technique for foolproof, hands-on detection design. It enables sensing placement within the steering-wheel industry’s first completely reliable solution for hands-on detection and offers the simplest way for car makers to comply with the UN Regulation 79. Photodiodes and LEDs can be used for simple gesture detection.

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The following application block diagram shows common in-cabin-sensing (ICS) applications, like driver and passenger monitoring, hands-on-wheel detection and occupant monitoring. These applications enhance safety and comfort via optical, electrical, and radar sensing.

Featured Products

ams TARA2000-AUT-SAFE for In-Cabin Sensing

Industry´s first automotive VCSEL with interlock based eye-safety After releasing the first AECQ-102 qualified in-cabin VCSEL to the market with TARA2000-AUT (in mass production since Q2 2021) the new TARA2000-AUT-SAFE comes with an upgraded packaging and an integrated eye-safety functionality that is more reliable and cost-efficient than existing photodiode (PD) based methods. The resistive interlock circuitry is integrated on the MLA (Micro-Lens Array) and can detect faults that could compromise eye safety, such as diffuser cracking or shear-off. Also, the TARA2000-AUT-SAFE’s interlock loop is easier to integrate with a lower cost, as its read-out circuit only requires one AND gate or MOSFET which also enables a near-instant response (below 1μs) to fault conditions. The fast and reliable response is in contrast to the existing built-in photodiode method for eye safety protection, where the photodiode signal is prone to faults caused by non-eye-safety related factors such as reflective objects in front of the VCSEL module, and the response time is slower.
Details and Datasheet

ams TARA2000-AUT - Automotive Flood Illuminator

The TARA2000-AUT is designed for the new generation of 2D and 3D optical in-cabin sensing applications, where a high power illumination and high signal-to-noise ratio is needed under all circumstances. VCSEL based illumination enables maximum image quality with minimum PCB footprint, and combined with a narrow spectral bandwidth ensures robustness against sunlight and sunglass reflections inside the car. The ultra-compact module is designed and manufactured with ams‘ state-of-the-art opto-electronics component manufacturing processes and is AECQ-102 and ISO26262 compliant, a first in its class. TARA2000-AUT can be used both for 2D NIR-imaging and for 3D sensing systems such as time-of-flight and stereo vision. Different wavelength options offer flexibility to customers using different optical systems, and multiple FOI options make sure there is a good fit for each application such as driver monitoring, interior monitoring, or gesture sensing.
Details and Datasheet

OSRAM OSLON™ Black, SFH 4728BS A01

OSLON Black Series (940 nm) - 50° High power infrared LED for In-Cabin Sensing applications like driver monitoring, occupant monitoring, interior monitoring, gesture sensing and child presence detection.
Details and Datasheet

OSRAM OSLON™ Black, SFH 47278BS A01

OSLON Black Series (940 nm) - 130 ° x 155 ° High power infrared LED for In-Cabin Sensing applications like driver monitoring, occupant monitoring, interior monitoring, gesture sensing and child presence detection.
Details and Datasheet

OSRAM SYNIOS™ P2720, SFH 4775S A01

IR SYNIOS P2720 (940 nm) - 120°
Details and Datasheet

Featured product families

OSLON™ Black for automotive & mobility applications

The new OSLON Black Series by ams OSRAM is high-flux LED is small and very robust, making it ideal for designing automotive or industrial applications.
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OSLON™ Piccolo for automotive & mobility applications

The OSLON™ Piccolo is a member of ams OSRAMs Power IR Emitter family for automotive applications which combines high optical power (1,15W @ 1A) with a very small footprint of only 1,6 x 1,6 x 0,81 mm³. It comes with two wavelength options (850nm and 940nm) and is perfectly suited for IR illumination applications which require small size components due to restricted board space, e.g. in modern slim displays. Short switching times around 10ns also permit the usage in 3D ToF systems, making the OSLON™ Piccolo a useful fit for gesture sensing applications. A temperature range of -40° … 105°C even exceeds the requirements of the AEC Q102 standard.
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SYNIOS™ P2720 for automotive & mobility applications

SYNIOS™ P2720 is a very powerful and reliable product family that excels through its high brightness, low thermal resistance and thermal stability. Featuring different chip size classes and colors with one common footprint, the SYNIOS™ P2720 family also shines with high flexibility and full scalability. Another great advantage of the SYNIOS™ P2720 is its exceptional temperature cycle stability. The lead frame part is optimized for the thermal expansion coefficient of the circuit board, thus securing very stable soldered joints.
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TOPLED™ for automotive & mobility applications

ams OSRAM Power TOPLED™ is a standard product in LED lighting. With our great experience in SMT LED we are able to offer a high quality product for all kind of applications. Within the spectrum of visible and invisible light the TOPLED™ product family offers solutions from backlighting up to basic gesture sensing and illumination in automotive interior applications. The latest product of this well established family ist the SFH 4246R, a new part for narrow space applications in the gesture sensing area.
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