One of FastCompany's World Changing Ideas Finalists Emotion-sensing technologies for future mobility. Symbiote is developing intuitive interfaces to build trust between human and machine. Imagine a future where your car could understand your emotions and proactively carry out actions associated with them. Read through this slide deck to learn more.

1. symbiote
Emotion-sensing technologies for future mobility

2. Autonomy is
the future.
Whether it is 20 years or 50 years away, autonomous
transportation will become mainstream one day.

3. symbiote
A Lack of Trust and
Understanding
Slows us from getting to our autonomous future.

4. symbiote
Trust and
Understanding
It is hard for people to trust autonomous cars. Humans
can trust their computers won’t lose their data, they can
trust that their cell phones will call who they want it to
call. But when we ask a person to sit in an autonomous
car, we are asking them to trust this technology with
their life.
People find it more difficult to trust this technology
because they do not understand the capability of it.*
They do not understand what the car is thinking, or what
it can and cannot do. Building on the understanding, we
would be able to facilitate a sense of trust.
On the other hand, some individuals trust ADAS too
much. When a driver loses focus on driving, assuming
the car will handle it, it can lead to disastrous
consequences.
*Blanco, Myra, et al. Human NFactors Evaluation of Level 2 and Level 3
Automated Driving Concepts. No. DOT HS 812 182. 2015.

5. symbiote
Trust and
Understanding
Tesla’s Autopilot update now asks drivers to hold onto
the steering wheel, even in autosteering mode,
signaling the lack of trust OEMs have in drivers with
their own technologies.

6. symbiote
Trust and
Understanding
In order for us to move into an autonomous
future, humans and machines must learn to trust
each other. That is where Symbiote comes in.
*Blanco, Myra, et al. Human NFactors Evaluation of Level 2 and Level 3
Automated Driving Concepts. No. DOT HS 812 182. 2015.

7. Symbiote is developing
intuitive interfaces to
build trust between
human and machine.
symbiote

8. symbiote
sym·bi·o·sis
/ˌsimbīˈōsəs,ˌsimbēˈōsəs/ | noun Biology
the interaction between two different organisms living
in close physical association, typically to the
advantage of both.

9. symbiote
Building an
interface
For the autonomous future, we need to look into
two sides of trust and understanding:
1) Humans need to trust cars and understand
what the car is about to do, and
2) Cars need to understand humans and how to
better serve their immediate needs.
When both sides can understand each other, we
develop a sense of bidirectional trust. This would
help build a connection between the human and
the machine, a symbiosis leading to many new
forms of interaction.

10. symbiote
Perceive
Symbiote uses computer vision to determine your
heart rate, facial features and posture to calculate
your emotional state and alertness level. This
information helps the car understand the driver
better.
Input

11. symbiote
Acknowledge
A dashboard on the car communicates the
data it has aggregated on the driver. This
helps the driver understand the car better,
and trust the car more.*
*Jung, Malte F., et al. "Displayed uncertainty improves driving experience and behavior: The case of
range anxiety in an electric car." Proceedings of the 33rd Annual ACM Conference on Human
Factors in Computing Systems. ACM, 2015.
Output

12. symbiote
Today
Symbiote’s technology can determine
driver’s alertness and wake him up when he
dozes off and make him perform a task
which requires less cognitive effort but
enough to wake him up. Meanwhile
Symbiote will make the car slow down and
pull over until it is safe to drive.

13. symbiote
Tomorrow
When integrated into connected cars,
Symbiote would be able to perform
meaningful interactions between the driver
and the car. Based on the driver’s emotion,
it could choose a playlist to listen to, or
change the climate settings. Emotion-
sensing will open numerous possibilities of
micro interactions.
Music Control Route Selection
Driving Dynamics Ridesharing Experiences
Health Monitoring

14. symbiote
Future
In an autonomous future when cars would be
able to communicate with each other, we
envision seamless interactions between cars
based on the operator’s current state. If the
operator is in a rush to get to a destination,
Symbiote could negotiate with other cars to get
out of its way. It could even turn the car into a
personal ambulance, helping get a sick
passenger to the hospital faster.

15. Phase I
Phase II
Safety
Comfort
Satisfaction
symbiote

16. symbiote
Hierarchy
of needs
Although the motive of transportation is to get
passengers from Point A to Point B, they conform
to a certain Hierarchy of Needs. Symbiote’s
interface can help address these needs.
Safety
Comfort
Satisfaction

17. symbiote
Safety
Comfort
Satisfaction
In the most basic of cars, safety plays an important role. From Airbags to Antilock
Braking systems, technology has revolutionized safety inside vehicles. Symbiote’s
Alertness Detection System ensures safe driving before we reach full autonomy.
For cars until now, ‘comfort’ has been about a smooth ride, or leather seats. With ADAS,
comfort would refer to the peace of mind of knowing what your car is thinking.
Symbiote displays a dashboard of data the car is gathering to facilitate trust in the car.
In many luxury cars, OEMs have thought of every little detail, giving drivers a sense of
‘delight’ when the car does something the driver didn’t know they wanted. Through a
better understanding of the driver, Symbiote could provide delight.

18. symbiote
Market Size
Starting with semi-autonomous cars,
with an intent to expand to other
transportation industries.
~$250B in yearly revenue
$126B
Air Transport
$40B
Road Transport $30B
Other Transport
$50B
Autonomous
Vehicles (2020)
Data Source: Statista http://statista.com
symbiote

19. symbiote
TAM
Taking different percentages based
on the value of autonomy and trust
in different contexts.
~$1.8B Total Addressable Market
$126M
Air Transport
$400M
Road Transport
$30M
Other Transport
$1.25B
Autonomous
Vehicles (2020)
Data Source: Statista http://statista.com
symbiote

20. symbiote
Competitive
Landscape
Although there are many indirect competitors,
there is only one direct competitor.

21. symbiote
Strategy
An iterative approach to
gaining customers
Sell to Owners of
Luxury Vehicles (validation)
Partnerships with
Car Manufacturers
Standardizing Safety
Technologies (similar to ABS, SRS)
Partnerships with
Passenger Transportation
Phase I
Phase II
1
2
4
3

22. Zaid Haque Hannah Xue Noshin Nisa
Strategy Technology Product

23. symbiote
Product Demo
http://symbiote.link/product

24. symbiote
Emotion-sensing technologies for future mobility
http://symbiote.link

25. Appendix A: Definitions
ABS: Antilock Braking System.
ADAS: Advanced Driver Assistance Systems. This refers to everything from Cruise Control and Lane Keeping
Assist to Tesla’s Autopilot system.
Autopilot: Tesla’s combination of dynamic cruise control and lane keeping assist that can help drivers take
their hands off the wheels/pedals on highways or in traffic. However, this is not an autonomous system and
should not be confused with it.
OEM: Original Equipment Manufacturer. The name given to car manufacturers in the transportation industry.
SRS: Supplemental Restraint System Airbags.

26. Appendix B: Levels of Autonomy
Data Source: Vox https://www.vox.com/2016/7/5/12077002/self-driving-cars-improve-cities