The purpose of this project was to develop a driver monitoring and crash risk mitigation system. This included development of the electronic hardware and software components, integration, and testing.
The system uses two small cameras, machine vision technology, on-board sensors, and data from the vehicle network to monitor driver distraction, drowsiness, speeding/aggressive behavior, alcohol impairment, and non-seat belt use. These are five major factors that can contribute to crash and injury risk. With the exception of seat belt use, redundant measures are used to reliably calculate individual and combined risk levels for presentation of a real-time warning of elevated risk to the driver, and/or delayed notification to authorities.
The relatively inexpensive system is wholly enclosed within a small and unobtrusive housing mounted to the windshield or dash to provide camera views of the driver’s face and the forward roadway. Integrated, high-speed electronic components such as digital signal processors (DSPs) are used to ensure that warnings occur with sufficient speed to mitigate crash occurrence and/or severity, while avoiding false alarms. A single connection provides power and data access via the vehicle network’s diagnostic connector.
The contractor's final report is available.
