Sadly, fatal accidents due to drunk driving continue to occur. As the recidivism rate reaches 45% due to lax awareness of drunk driving, a bill to install an ignition interlock device for drunk driving is gaining attention to prevent damage and ensure citizen safety.

Accordingly, in order for the 'Drunk Driving Ignition Interlock Act' to function properly, facial recognition technology to prevent proxy measurement and non-contact alcohol measurement sensing technology are expected to emerge as key technologies.

■ Discussion on the introduction of ignition interlock devices for drunk driving is gaining momentum

On the 1st, Rep. Kim Ki-hyun of the People Power Party and 82 others proposed a 'Partial Amendment to the Road Traffic Act'. According to this, the bill would establish new regulations on drunk driving prevention devices and allow drivers who have been punished for drunk driving to install a drunk driving prevention device and receive a conditional driver's license to drive.

A similar bill was also proposed by the opposition party. On the 28th of last month, Rep. Jeong Woo-taek of the Democratic Party of Korea and 16 others announced a bill of the same name and mentioned the need to introduce an 'ignition interlock system for drunk driving.'

Through this, a revision bill was proposed to make it mandatory to install devices to prevent drunk driving recurrence and to establish regulations for license cancellation and punishment in case of violation. A total of nine of the proposed amendments also include the installation of ignition interlock devices for drunk driving.

As the National Human Rights Commission of Korea is also recommending related measures to the National Police Agency within this year, discussions on institutionalizing ignition interlock devices for drunk driving are gaining momentum and expectations for institutionalization are rising.

■ Overseas, drunk driving prevention devices are being installed in new cars
There is also a growing market demand for technologies that can prevent proxy testing when repeat drunk driving offenders attempt to take breathalyzer tests in their personal vehicles.

Products to prevent drunk driving have already been developed and applied in some countries, and the EU is operating a system to require that all new vehicles released after July 2022 have the ability to install a drunk driving ignition interlock device as a standard feature. The EU allows convicted drink drivers to choose an ignition interlock device instead of a driving ban.

In addition, the United States, which already requires habitual drunk driving offenders to install ignition interlock devices, is cooperating with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to apply driver alcohol detection systems using infrared and breath analyzers and touch sensors to next-generation production vehicles.

The US National Transportation Safety Administration is developing a Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety (DADSS) breath and touch sensor through a roadmap, and has set a roadmap to launch the breath detection system into the consumer market by 2024, and the touch system by 2025.

In Korea, Sentech Korea, which supplies drunk driving detection equipment to the National Police Agency, has already developed and introduced the 'ALX3000', an ignition interlock device for drunk driving, to the market. The device consists of a handset for breathalyzers equipped with an alcohol detection sensor and a control box that connects to the vehicle wiring to manage the ignition, enabling pre-driving breathalyzer tests and preventing drunk driving.

■ Facial recognition, a key technology outlook… High utilization in industrial sites and driving assistance
However, if a solution to prevent proxy measurement is not installed, future drunk driving prevention devices will not be able to prevent so-called 'tricks' by drunk drivers due to technical vulnerabilities. To complement this, it is essential to integrate with biometric authentication technologies such as facial recognition.

Union Community, a biometrics specialist, is seeking to manage attendance and prevent drunk driving in industrial sites in the transportation sector through a biometric alcohol measurement solution that utilizes facial recognition, and Suprema, a biometrics company, has been supplying a alcohol measurement management system using fingerprint recognition and RFID card recognition to Seoul Metro since 2020 to promote industrial safety management.

Meanwhile, in addition to these facial recognition technologies, active movements are being detected in the development and commercialization stages of various behavioral recognition solutions, such as driver drowsiness prevention, to be utilized in driving assistance systems.

Image-based AI technology is being widely adopted as a driving assistance system for solutions such as driving assistance, collecting and analyzing driving habit data, and preventing driver safety accidents. In the future, the integration of AI-based solutions and services into various social safety nets is expected to become more advanced, leading to the activation of related industries.