Seeing Machines Limited (LON:SEE) has welcomed the passing in the US House of Representatives of the ‘Moving Forward Act’, a new automotive safety bill.
It promises to drive demand for the company’s own driver monitoring system (DMS) technology, which use cameras and facial recognition to ensure drivers are paying attention to the road.
The Moving Forward Act specifically includes a plan to mandate driver monitoring in cars and trucks sold from 2024. It will also require new vehicles to have automatic braking, lane-keeping, blind-spot detection, event data recorders at the same time.
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Seeing Machines pointed out that regulatory-driven demand for DMS continues to build around the world and momentum in the US points to policy adoption targeting the same timeframe.
The group added that ‘Moving Forward’ would line up closely to European General Safety Regulation which passed into law in November 2019.
Seeing Machines also noted that the European new car assessment programme (NCAP) has announced a delay to the 2022 and 2024 due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic so that automakers and Tier 1 suppliers have more time to incorporate necessary changes.
The company said it does not expect any material impact to its near-term forecast for automotive revenue.
"Given the unprecedented events of 2020 thus far, we are not surprised that Euro NCAP has been delayed. The impacts of this delay are minimal to Seeing Machines and with US legislation heading towards mirroring those in Europe, the potential for DMS remains compelling,” Paul McGlone, Seeing Machines chief executive said in a statement.
"We are also very pleased to see that the demand for advanced safety technology is increasing across all transport sectors as regulators, governments and policymakers around the world continue to focus on ways to reduce global road fatalities and injuries. Seeing Machines is already engaged and very well placed to support this momentum across Automotive, Fleet/Offroad and Aviation," he added.
The company said it continues to work on delivering ongoing automotive programs as well as participating on a range of requests for quotes (RFQs) to deliver its technology into new vehicle models for automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) around the world.