AktiMeter – in-cabin monitoring for intelligent, real-time behavior analysis

What is the Fraunhofer IOSB AktiMeter?

The Fraunhofer IOSB AktiMeter is a modular research and proof-of-concept system for AI-based in-cabin monitoring. It has been developed to automatically detect human movements, body postures, gestures, activities, object interactions and relevant events in vehicle interiors.

The system is designed for research, development and evaluation tasks in real vehicles, driving simulators and laboratory environments. It supports the development of adaptive safety, comfort and assistance functions by translating complex in-cabin video streams into structured, searchable and usable information.

The new AktiMeter combines two complementary operating modes. In real-time mode, it analyzes the in-cabin situation locally in the vehicle and can run on compact edge hardware powered via a 65-watt USB-C connection. In offline mode, it enables the retrospective exploration of long-duration in-cabin videos from driving studies, own datasets or externally collected data.

Across both modes, AktiMeter supports prompt-based search, keyword-based search, body-pose-based search, object search, activity search and event-based search. This allows users to identify relevant situations quickly, inspect long video recordings efficiently and evaluate in-cabin behavior in a structured way.

By processing anonymous skeletal data and configurable semantic event information, the AktiMeter supports privacy-aware analysis workflows and GDPR-compliant research settings. With live visualization, real-time data output, extensive data logging, export functions and a programming interface for system integration, it provides a flexible tool for scientific studies, industrial prototyping and applied automotive research.

What is the Aktimeter used for?

Fraunhofer IOSB’s AktiMeter records and analyzes the natural behavior of occupants in vehicle interiors. It is used in research vehicles, driving simulators and experimental test setups to investigate how occupants sit, move, interact with objects and respond to automated or assisted driving functions.

Customers and research partners use the AktiMeter to develop and evaluate adaptive in-cabin systems, driver and occupant monitoring functions, human-machine interaction concepts, assistance systems and prototype demonstrations. The real-time capability is particularly valuable for live demonstrators, in-vehicle proof-of-concept functions and experimental studies in moving vehicles.

The offline analysis mode enables the automated evaluation and semantic search of long video recordings, for example from naturalistic driving studies, Car Clinics, benchmark studies or user-centered product evaluations. Instead of manually inspecting hours of video material, users can search for specific postures, objects, activities, events or situations of interest.

AktiMeter therefore supports both immediate in-vehicle analysis and systematic retrospective data exploration. It helps researchers and developers to understand real occupant behavior, derive design requirements and validate new concepts for safer, more adaptive and more context-aware vehicle interiors.

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