Digital Cameras Help Alert Sleepy Drivers

An anonymous reader writes "An interesting story on how digital cameras are being mounted in cars to watch the eye movements of drivers to make sure that they are awake. The cars include two cameras, one watching the road and one watching the driver. If there is something on the road that is a danger and the driver doesn't see, the car alerts the driver. Pretty neat technology."

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Cool intermediate technology

[Dancin_Santa]

Obviously, the final application of this kind of technology is to allow the car to take primary control of the vehicle and let the passengers relax in peace.

We already have navigation systems that are accurate to within half a meter in many cities worldwide. We also have collision detection algorithms (aka hashing functions) that can help avoid crashing into other cars. We now can mount cameras onto vehicles to provide visual sensory input.

All we really need is an IR sensory input for fog driving.

In cities, this kind of "decide the destination" driving without the hassle of actually driving the vehicle would be really useful, I think.

Digital camera kept me awake!

[eingram]

I used to drive a lot for long hours during the night. I would catch myself dozing off quite a bit..

I'd then break out my digital camera and take pictures of the road, myself, buildings, etc. I'd also set it on my dashboard and do a long exposure image to catch the headlights of cars and city lights (for a cool streaking effect). I had a lot of fun and it kept me awake.

Was it dangerous? Nah. I can operate my camera without looking at it really, so I was able to keep my eyes on the road (and keep them open).

Wonder how it determines what is a danger

[LiENUS]

I wonder how this determines what is a danger and whats not, does it detect any sudden change in the road such that a pothole or cones on the side would set it off or is it more specific in that only if you go off the road it works?

Good idea, but...

[Anonymous Coward]

Digital cameras to combat sleepy drivers. Nothing like a flash in the middle of the night to blind you to oncoming traffic.

Better or Worse?

[N Monkey]

I can't remember the exact figures but I heard that in the UK either "1 in 6" fatal accidents may be caused by falling asleep at the wheel. Certainly they've been advertising the dangers of driving while tired as much now as anti-drink-driving.

Now I can see it could save a life if a so called "micro sleep" occured at the wheel but could it have the opposite effect? Would some people then try to drive longer thinking they have a safety net/alarm clock to wake them up if they drift off?

Complacency

[tod_miller]

I do not mind having some driver alert system, but if it goes off too many times, too many false positives, then drivers may ignore it, yet at the same time, the very fact that it is there might make them more willing to distract thier attention from the road.

So it gives you a false sense of security, but like all computer equiptment, you ignore it the seconed it gets too annoying.

How many times has a car alarm gone off, and you rush outside to apprehend the thieves?

This sounds too much like a tax funded project gone awry. Perhaps the car might have a failsafe mode if the triggers go too far? if the person doesn't hit an ok button in enough time, the car should slow calmly and require some special intervention to make sure the user is aware.

Now any action on the part of a computer that would remove the human from the loop is not desirable, as this would mean a car might slow in the middle of a 5 lane intersection, or something stupid.

But if humans take themselves out of the loop through complacency, then that is worse.

It wont work!

[Goth Biker Babe]

There's this psychological effect called risk compensation. It's been shown that the safe people believe they are the less careful they will be. So if you have mechanisms in your car to stop you from being stupid you'll actually be even more stupid that you would normally be and so the whole thing balances out.

Here in the UK Volvo drivers have a bad name with motorcyclists. Why? Because they are very safe cars and so many Volvo drivers take less care than someone in a less safe car. But cars aren't the only thing on the road and it's all well and good you being safe in your car if you're involved in an accident but what about the other poor sod!

Actually the best thing to make everyone drive safely and wear seat belts and the like is to put a spike in the centre of the steering wheel!

Re:Cool intermediate technology

[Colin Smith]

"All we really need is an IR sensory input for fog driving."

Just stick on an IR camera and cars will be able to drive themselves? Nope, we're decades away from fully automated vehicles. Real roads are far far more complex than the test roads which they have been run on so far.

http://robotics.eecs.berkeley.edu/~janka/PATH/st er eo_drive.html

If you want fully automated vehicles right now, a segregated guideway is required, AKA Personal Rapid Transit.

http://faculty.washington.edu/jbs/itrans/

Citroën already does that (sort of)

[MartijnL]

The new Citroën C5 (http://www.citroen.co.uk/) has a lane departure warning system that detects if the car is leaving it's lane (like if when the driver has nodded off and there is a bend in the road). It only warns when the driver crosses the white line however so collision detection is still a way to go.

Re:It wont work!

[richie2000]

I totally agree. The trick would be to make people safer while making them believe they're in mortal danger. It's a game of visualising risks. Since they can see they're going to be two minutes late for that important meeting but can't see the broken down truck over the next hill or see themselves as pieces of decaying flesh at the roadside, they put the pedal to the metal.

And this is why bikers in general (there are sadly a LOT of exceptions to this rule) are not as prone to accidents as people in general (the non-biking public, as it were) might imagine. We're too close to the road to not notice it rushing by at break-neck speeds. I believe it's best said in Zodiac [wikipedia.org] where a bicyclist, all dressed up in black, is asked why he doesn't have any lights or flourescent clothing and he responds with "For that to work, I'd have to assume every motorist around me is wide awake, sober and not trying to kill me. That's stupid. I pretend there's a million dollar bounty on my head and everyone's trying to hit me. It's my responsibility to make sure they don't." and there's a certain amount of truth in it. That and the spike works for me. :-)

Re:Alerts you to dangerous things on the road?

[Seumas]

In 1997, I was walking across a three lane street. Midle of the crosswalk and there is only one car on the road. It's across the intersection, on the other side, far enough away to stop. So I continue walking. Not thinking anything unusual.

But the guy doesn't stop! He drives through the crosswalk, through the intersection and smashes right through me! I fly up unto the hood of his car and he keeps driving. I roll up onto his windshield and the impact is so hard that the force of me landing crushes his windshield and roof. It takes almost two full blocks before he stops. He doesn't even consider putting on the break for the first block. He hit me with full driving force. Fortunatelly, I somehow made it without any serious injuries although I still suffer sore joints and muscle problems almost a decade later (at times). But at least I didn't break any bones or lose conciousness.

After he finally realized that he had hit something, slammed on the breaks and stopped - I went flying through the air and landed hard on the aslphalt about 50 feet down the road from his car. He had hit me so hard that his car had to be towed and totaled.

He didn't really have any excuse other than he just didn't see me. In the road. In the crosswalk. On an empty street.

check head tilt

[ufnoise]

If you are concerned about people falling asleep, it might be easier/cheaper to attach a sensor to detect when the driver's head tilts forward. If the driver is otherwise easily distracted, perhaps he/she shouldn't be allowed to drive at all.

Re:Better or Worse?

[343 Guilty Spark]

As far as the opposite effect, this is a know phenoma in driver safety;

It is called risk compensation or behavioural adaptation, if you look at things like accident rates before and after seat belts have been made complusory you find that while fatalities for those in cars decrease it is not at the level predicted by statistics, and fatalities for pedestrians and cyclists acutally increase..

Basically people feel safer so they drive faster/aren't as careful.

The interesting thing is that the effect is strongest for safety changes that make the chance of an accident lower (e.g. ABS breaking) and weakest for things that just reduce the cost of an accident (e.g. Airbags).

I my own research I have found that even in simulator studies that risk compensation appears to happen as far as road width goes (i.e. if roads are widened people drive faster, if they are narrowed they drive slower).

Re:Cool intermediate technology

[Dave_M_26]

knowingly breaking a speed limit

major cause[s] of death and destruction on the road

Whilst I agree that some breaking of the speed limit is obviously dangerous (e.g. going >60mph in a 30 zone) I disagree that a strict adherence to the speed limit is necessarily good or safe.

For instance, going 40 (in a 30 limit) on a clear straight road, on a bright Sunday afternoon is probably going to be safer than doing 30 on a rainy Monday morning, down a winding road in front of a school, despite the fact that the speed limit is nominally the same.

I would be wary of any system which was incabable of taking these varying factors into account (not, in theory, difficult - weather sensors, tyre grip sensors, visibilty distance monitors, pedestrian detectors etc).

Dave

Re:Cool intermediate technology

[Proc6]

I would think just an additional lane appended to each side of major interstates would be plenty. I dont think we really need automated pilots to drive 3 blocks of residental roads to a McDonalds. But a single, controlled-environment, automatic-pilot-only lane on I-80 would rock and feasible far sooner. Something with no bikes, no motorcycles, just cars equipped with special equipment. Maybe a verification booth at each end of long stretches to make sure people entering have said equipment.

Re:Cool intermediate technology

[Colin Smith]

The 3 city blocks to McDonalds are the most dangerous roads, interstates are relatively safe. They've had automatic driving kit for interstates for quite a while.

e.g.
http://www.cvhas.org/

They use magnets embedded in the lane to determine position. The issues, what happens at the exit if the driver falls asleep? How do you handle unexpected situations like wildlife on the motorway? Who's at fault when an accident does happen, the manufacturer?

The other thing is that it's a relatively expensive and inefficient way to apply IT to transport, a kludge even. All the vehicles (millions of them eventually) would have to be retrofitted with kit, all the motorways would have to be retrofitted for it to be effective, it's an expensive and rather slow proposition.

Re:Privacy concerns

[ambrosen]

Good point. So at what speed does a modern car have a braking distance of 14m (3 car lengths), then? Why separate licence for motorways when they're by far the safest roads. How does lights on at all times improve safety outside of a heavily forested country where light is in short supply in winter and not as bright as expected in summer evenings where dark cars are preferred (I assume Sweden was your reference point for this)? Predicting dangers is part of the driving test. UK government stopping distances are based on a Mk 1 Ford Cortina or similar.

And if you're actually worried about losing your licence when a head on collision's on the cards, your priorities are very wrong. Why so important to overtake anyway. Seeing as you're talking about the UK, it's not as if you've far to go on your single carriageway road. And they are by far the most dangerous roads by quite some margin.

Some more "unconventional" methods

[lxt]

There was an article about drivers falling asleep in a UK paper a few days back - some of the more (worrying?) ways drivers have tried to not fall asleep included a air hostess who trapped her hair in the sun roof, so when she would fall asleep the sharp pain in her head would wake her up again, and another man who attached pins around an elastic band on his wrist...

Re:Privacy concerns

[Colin Smith]

Probably does, but in the UK a police officer makes the judgement of what constitutes due care and attention, then prosecutes you in a court where you can provide a defense. I don't believe artificial intelligence has advanced far enough that an automatic system is capable of making that determination.

Re:Privacy concerns

[ambrosen]

Au contraire, the system can tell reliably whether you noticed the object in the way, unlike a police officer who can just guess what you were looking at.

This is pretty scary.

[Puls4r]

No thanks. This scares me just like the data-recording units in some new cars. If you don't think the data is going to be stored for people to reference - 'Insurance company / police / etc', then I think you're off base.

The folks talking about automatic driving systems are also pretty unrealistic. Vision systems in use in manufacturing environments are notriously touchy and difficult to keep running, even with proper illumination and constrat control.

This will be used as a law enforcement tool. Those people who stop driving when they grow tired will continue to do so, and those that don't will disable the system and continue to drive, just like folks who refuse to wear seatbelts disable the idiot bell and light.

Again, no thanks.

Re:Alerts you to dangerous things on the road?

[EulerX07]

Now, if only they can devise a way to keep 85 year olds who think that it's their god given right to drive until the day they die, from slamming on the gas and destroying buildings and killing pedestrians because they thought it was the break pedal

Heh, lots of people got stories like this, so I'll throw in mine. I know a girl that used to work in a big supermarket with an in-door garage. If you ever worked as a wrapper you know you sometimes go and help people get stuff in their car. A car was backing out of the spot behind the car where she was putting things in. The old lady saw her and proceeded to press down on the wrong pedal.

That girl will now spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair, both legs destroyed beyond repair.

Why not just drive and let me get back to sleep?

[crovira]

Now THAT would be helpful technology.