Vision-Language Assistant for Emotional Reactions to Risky Driving

This study introduces a vision-language pipeline that detects risky driving behaviors and generates emotionally expressive responses to support driver awareness and comfort. Although vision-language models have advanced perception and reasoning in autonomous driving, existing systems rarely consider the emotional dimension or real-world user experience. Keep Yelling Assistant (KYA) detects high-risk driving maneuvers in real time, such as sudden cut-ins. It then produces emotional responses through a large language model tailored to driver preferences. The framework comprises two core modules. The vision module uses YOLOv8 variants to detect nearby vehicles and identify risky behaviors such as sudden cut-ins. Key driving metrics, including relative distance, speed, and projected reach time, are extracted and normalized to produce a structured behavior log. The language module processes this log with user-defined emotional tone settings, such as neutral, humorous, and analytical, and generates verbal reactions using state-of-the-art large language models, including ChatGPT-4o, Claude 3, Gemini 2.5, and Copilot. We evaluated the proposed system using dashcam videos containing risky driving behaviors and a user study involving 108 participants. Participants selected preferred response styles, and the large language models were evaluated based on emotional alignment. All models received favorable ratings, although preferences varied across personas. Notably, the combination of YOLOv8s and ChatGPT-4o achieved the highest score of 4.29 out of 5.00. By integrating real-world perception with emotionally adaptive dialogue, KYA introduces a new paradigm for emotionally intelligent in-vehicle artificial intelligence. It offers promising directions for improving safety, trust, and emotional well-being in both conventional and autonomous vehicles.

Leveraging Depth Maps and Attention Mechanisms for Enhanced Image Inpainting

Existing deep learning-based image inpainting methods typically rely on convolutional networks with RGB images to reconstruct images. However, relying exclusively on RGB images may neglect important depth information, which plays a critical role in understanding the spatial and structural context of a scene. Just as human vision leverages stereo cues to perceive depth, incorporating depth maps into the inpainting process can enhance the model's ability to reconstruct images with greater accuracy and contextual awareness. In this paper, we propose a novel approach that incorporates both RGB and depth images for enhanced image inpainting. Our models employ a dual encoder architecture, where one encoder processes the RGB image and the other handles the depth image. The encoded features from both encoders are then fused in the decoder using an attention mechanism, effectively integrating the RGB and depth representations. We use two different masking strategies, line and square, to test the robustness of the model under different types of occlusions. To further analyze the effectiveness of our approach, we use Gradient-weighted Class Activation Mapping (Grad-CAM) visualizations to examine the regions of interest the model focuses on during inpainting. We show that incorporating depth information alongside the RGB image significantly improves the reconstruction quality. Through both qualitative and quantitative comparisons, we demonstrate that the depth-integrated model outperforms the baseline, with attention mechanisms further enhancing inpainting performance, as evidenced by multiple evaluation metrics and visualization.

Leveraging Depth and Attention Mechanisms for Improved RGB Image Inpainting

Existing deep learning-based image inpainting methods typically rely on convolutional networks with RGB images to reconstruct images. However, relying exclusively on RGB images may neglect important depth information, which plays a critical role in understanding the spatial and structural context of a scene. Just as human vision leverages stereo cues to perceive depth, incorporating depth maps into the inpainting process can enhance the model's ability to reconstruct images with greater accuracy and contextual awareness. In this paper, we propose a novel approach that incorporates both RGB and depth images for enhanced image inpainting. Our models employ a dual encoder architecture, where one encoder processes the RGB image and the other handles the depth image. The encoded features from both encoders are then fused in the decoder using an attention mechanism, effectively integrating the RGB and depth representations. We use two different masking strategies, line and square, to test the robustness of the model under different types of occlusions. To further analyze the effectiveness of our approach, we use Gradient-weighted Class Activation Mapping (Grad-CAM) visualizations to examine the regions of interest the model focuses on during inpainting. We show that incorporating depth information alongside the RGB image significantly improves the reconstruction quality. Through both qualitative and quantitative comparisons, we demonstrate that the depth-integrated model outperforms the baseline, with attention mechanisms further enhancing inpainting performance, as evidenced by multiple evaluation metrics and visualization.