SMK and Pontosense Drive Safety in Automotive Space
with Innovative mmWave Sensors

SMK Corporation（President: Ikeda Yasumitsu, hereinafter referred to as “SMK”）announces
partnership with Canadian artificial intelligence (AI) company, Pontosense（CEO: Alex Qi,
hereinafter referred to as “Pontosense”）, and their contactless mmWave Child Presence Detection (CPD)^*1 and vital sensors. SMK contributes to the sales expansion by providing support and
expertise in automotive components. Furthermore, SMK and Pontosense will exhibit the mmWave
sensors at the Automotive Engineering Exposition 2024^*2 in Yokohama, Japan on May 22-24. 

Background of Partnership and Further Business

Establishing a safe and more secure in-cabin automotive experience is a distinctive trend
worldwide. In an effort to prevent hot car fatalities for children left behind in parked vehicles, many countries are establishing new safety standards.
For example, the EUROPEAN NEW CAR ASSESSMENT PROGRAMME (Euro NCAP) has defined CPD
protocols for child safety and are rewarding automakers that implement child classification and
detection systems.
In that circumstance, SMK had been advancing “Open Innovation” activities^*3. As part of this
activity, SMK has been collaborating with Pontosense for contactless CPD and driver and passenger vital monitoring since June 2022 and conducting PoCs since December 2022 as a key partner.
This partnership realizes the enhancement of a safe and secure automotive space, and the two
companies are stepping forward together to mass produce CPD and vital sensors in 2026 and 2027, respectively, with the same faith.

Item Introduction

A) mmWave Child Presence Detection Sensor
Compliant with Euro NCAP CPD requirements, the sensor detects:
- Passenger’s presence or absence
- The number of passengers
- Passenger location
- Classification between adult and infant
- Intruders
If a child is left behind in a parked vehicle, the sensor provides key data to the vehicle making it
possible to alert their guardian, unlock the doors or automate air conditioning to prevent heat
stroke and protect a child.

To learn more about - Child Presence Detection Sensor
B) mmWave Vital Sensor
The vital sensor can monitor biological data such as heart rate (HR), breathing rate (BR), and heart rate variability (HRV) without direct contact or wearables, even on the road.
Pontosense’s proprietary algorithms eliminate environmental noise such as on-road vibrations and
body movement noise, enabling accurate, real-time detection of biodata while driving. Furthermore, their innovative AI creates contextual insights using this biodata to monitor driver and passenger
fatigue, drowsiness, motion sickness, and other health insights with a single sensor.

To learn more about - Vital Sensor

Demo Movie Gallery

For examples of use in real environments, see the demonstration videos at the URL below.

1) Child Presence Detection Sensor

2) Vital Sensor

About Pontosense Inc. (https://www.pontosense.com/)
Established in 2021 by a team of industry-leading engineers with over 500 patents, Pontosense is
on a mission to fundamentally change everyday technology by expanding the relationship between humans and machines. Their passion for innovation and expertise in wireless hardware and
software design is pushing the boundaries of mmWave wireless sensing further than ever, leading
to global partnerships and applications across the IoT, AgeTech, and automotive industries.

*1　The child presence detection sensor includes occupant detection function.
*2　For the information of SMK booth, please refer to the link:
   https://aee.expo-info.jsae.or.jp/en/yokohama/exb_list/
*3　SMK Open Innovation website : https://www.smk.co.jp/mktsp/open-innovation/top_en/

Contact Us

Innovation Center
SMK Corporation
supp-sp@smk.co.jp