Drunk drivers, beware

technology • A Waterloo, Ont., company is a critical step closer to marketing a new technology designed to combat drunk driving, thanks to the research efforts of a pair of University of Windsor electrical engineering students.

Ashirbani Saha and Kaushik Ray have developed an algorithm for a face-recognition system that would work in concert with a steering wheel sensor that would detect a driver’s blood-alcohol level. The researchers are working with Sober Steering, a company developing the technology.

“The facial recognition system has a database so the owner of the car can add certain people in the database and only those people will be able to drive the car,” said Ray, a master’s student. “This will also help with auto thefts; the car won’t start if the person is not authorized.”