Saturday, December 02, 2006

Wakey wakey to sleepy drivers!


This post titled 'Mercedes wants to wake up sleepy drivers' describes how an interdisciplinary team of engineers, computer scientists and psychologists at Mercedes-Benz is developing a system to save many lives and which should be ready in a few years:

'The phenomenon that threatens to occur in this type of situation is referred to by experts as "microsleep": a spontaneous reaction of the human organism to over-fatigue. The eyes sting, the lids blink more frequently but more slowly too, the pupils become smaller, the driver yawns and shivers -- all telltale warning signs of this phenomenon. Should the eyes remain closed for just one second longer than usual the consequences can be fatal, as in this second the car covers a whole 28 metres when travelling at a speed of 100 km/h - effectively driverless and therefore out of control.

So what are doing the Mercedes-Benz experts to fight this state? They've used a variety of methods for detecting driver fatigue as soon as it sets in.

One of these techniques is the eye-blink observation method: an infrared camera directed at the driver's head permanently monitors the eye-blink frequency, enabling microsleep to be detected the instant the eyes stay closed for a certain period of time. A warning signal sounds in the car's cockpit in response.'

Via Roland Piquepaille's Technology Trends

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