Toyota has instituted face recognition systems from ITOCHU to support vehicle inspection and manufacturing quality systems within the company’s car production plants during Covid.

Vehicle inspection is a key regulatory and quality process within Toyota’s vehicle manufacturing system. Only certified inspectors are allowed to carry out the inspections, and each inspector must be authenticated as part of the inspection process. With Covid protection clothing and masks, it has become difficult to authenticate inspectors during the vehicle inspection process on the production floor, with the result that the inspection regime has become lengthier, holding up output of finished vehicles. Manual authentication of inspectors also compromises their protective clothing, putting them at risk of catching Covid.

To address these problems, Toyota has adopted a solution developed by ITOCHU Techno-Solutions and CyberLink Corp, which has developed the AI facial recognition engine FaceMe. ITOCHU has used FaceMe to develop a new version of its “Vehicle Inspection Information System” for adoption by Toyota Motor Corporation to improve vehicle quality management.

The Vehicle Inspection Information System is a quality management system for reviewing the inspection results of finished vehicles. FaceMe is designed to provide high-speed and precise facial recognition to ensure that only certified inspectors can inspect finished vehicles. With touchless facial authentication and high accuracy, it has also improved work productivity.

“Due to recent COVID-19 infections, our workers must wear masks all the time,” said Mr. Imato, Assistant Manager of Toyota Motor Corporation. “We’ve adopted FaceMe because of its outstanding performance, specifically in face matching when performing facial recognition on mask-wearers. It allows us to improve productivity and concentrate on the inspection work itself. Moreover, CyberLink has also supported us in eliminating environmental problems usually encountered with facial recognition, such as bright factory lighting and dimly lit car interiors.”

“We are honoured that ITOCHU Techno-Solutions has integrated our FaceMe facial recognition SDK in its Vehicle Inspection Information System, and Toyota Motor Corporation, whose top quality represents Japanese manufacturing worldwide, has chosen this system,” said Dr. Jau Huang, CEO of CyberLink Corp. “FaceMe brings world-class accuracy and anti-spoofing technology to ITOCHU’s system, making Toyota Motor Corporation’s quality control processes more convenient and productive. It has also helped prevent infectious diseases while creating a market for smart factories.”

“Using deep neural network AI technology, FaceMe is an attractive product due to its quick speed and high accuracy in facial recognition,” said Mr. Matsunaga, Division Manager of ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Co., Ltd. “Our customers have spoken highly of FaceMe, so we are delighted to be able to integrate it with our systems. CyberLink’s support during the verification process was also helpful. We plan to extend our services to other factories in the future, so we appreciate their continued support.”