Ambarella, Inc. has announced that the new Yandex SignalQ2 LTE-enabled driver monitoring camera system (DMS) is based on the company’s proprietary CV25 edge AI vision system on chip (SoC). The announcement is significant for Ambarella as the SignalQ2 DMS camera will be deployed across the Yandex.Taxi fleet of partner ride-hailing vehicles by 2022. In addition, Yandex will offer the camera to other companies who rely on fleet vehicles to conduct business.
“We pay great attention to safety in our service, which is why we developed the SignalQ2,” said Nikolay Buldakov, SignalQ project leader at Yandex. “We chose the Ambarella CV25 SoC because it meets our performance and power criteria.”
“The new Yandex DMS camera based on Ambarella’s CV25 will improve safety across the Yandex ride-hailing fleet, and those of other companies,” said Senya Pertsel, senior director of marketing for Ambarella. “We are pleased to meet Yandex’s stringent requirements for high-performance AI processing, total security, and very low power, in their small form factor, windshield-mounted camera.”
Yandex SignalQ2 Mounting
As described by Pertsel, the Yandex SignalQ2 camera will be secured to the interior windshield, then aimed toward the driver. Despite the mounting setup, Ambarella says the small size of the SignalQ2 means it will not hinder the driver’s field of view. Ambarella has previous experience with small form factor units in the U.S. consumer market, supplying the processors for products like the Cobra Road Scout, a two-in-one radar detector and dash camera (the Road Scout is a mere eight ounces and easy to install).
How It Works
The Yandex camera utilizes the Ambarella CV25’s real-time AI processing to determine a driver’s identity and their level of fatigue versus attentiveness. The camera then leverages the Ambarella CVflow architecture to run the Yandex neural network-based DMS stack and process video at a speed of at least 30 fps.
Ambarella’s on-chip H.264/H.265 video compression engine delivers constant video recording and optional live streaming over LTE for remote monitoring. This ensures critical evidence can be gathered in the event of an emergency or other incident. “It can operate with video flows from up to three sensors and run neural network algorithms on the CVflow engine with high speed and extremely low power consumption,” Buldakov said. “The CVflow platform’s security functionality allowed us to be sure that the camera uses only firmware developed by us, which is especially important for devices used in safety applications.”
About Yandex
Sometimes called the Google, Uber, and Spotify of Russia, Yandex.Taxi is part of Yandex, described by the BBC as the IT giant you might not know about. Yandex.Taxi has over 700,000 ride-hailing drivers operating in more than 1,000 cities across Eastern Europe, Russia, Kazakhstan, Norway, Israel, the Ivory Coast, Finland, and Ghana.
The Yandex SignalQ2 DMS camera is available for order today. “Ambarella’s team has been an outstanding partner in all stages of device development,” Buldakov added.
