Jaguar Land Rover Develops "Sixth Sensitivity Safety Device" to Measure Driver's EEG to Increase Safety

The moment when sleepiness and attention during driving are distracted, there are things that many drivers, including drivers driving long distances, experienced once. Although various developments are being promoted to prevent inadvertent and dozing driving which may cause serious damage once it leads to an accident,Jaguar · Land RoverHas found out that it is working on the development of a safety system that senses the driver's brain waves, etc., grasps the condition of the driver, encourages the driver's attention when necessary, and prevents accidents.

Jaguar Land Rover Road Safety Research Includes Brain Wave Monitoring To Improve Driver Concentration And Reduce Accidents
http://newsroom.jaguarlandrover.com/en-in/jaguar/news/2015/06/jlr_road_safety_ressearch_brain_wave_monitoring_170615/

◆ Danger detection by brain wave sensing and feedback system to the driver
"Mind SenseIn development projects named "Sports, Medical and Aeronautics", we are tired of whether the driver is in a state of stress by monitoring the driver's heartbeat, breathing, and brain activity levels It is aimed at judging whether or not you are in a state of concentration or declining concentration. At the same time, technical innovation to reduce the time for drivers to look away from the road and development of devices to arouse attention to drivers through accelerator pedal etc. are being promoted.

As an effort to grasp the state of the driver during driving and to prevent accidents, even in JapanDeveloped by DensoA device that captures the state of the face of the driver with a camera and calls attention is a large bus of Hino MotorsInstalled in SelegaIn addition to being studied at the research institution and university level a number of studies are being advanced, but the feature of the system developed by Jaguar Land Rover this time is to directly sense the state of the driver by sensing brain waves It seems to be said that it is located.

Always 4 or more types of brain waves always flow in the human brain with their own frequencies, knowing that the characteristic brain waves become dominant by awake, sleeping, tired, etc. It is done. In our company's system, by continuously monitoring the state of this electroencephalogram, it becomes possible to judge whether the driver concentrates, is blurred, is drowsy, or is distracted elsewhere It is.

ByGeoff B

Measurement of brain wave itself is not so difficult, but the problem to be cleared when developing for automobile is how to measure that brain wave. Generally, when measuring brain waves, I wear a special device called "headband / headgear" on my head, but wearing this device when driving a car is not practical. Therefore, Jaguar · Land Rover seems to be conducting research focusing on the method NASA has adopted in order to raise the concentration of pilots and focusing on the method introduced in the American Bobsleigh team.

Jaguar · Land Rover is advancing research on the device like a headband that measures the driver's brain waves from the head rather than from the head. The problem comes to be an influence of unnecessary "noise" caused by distance away from the actual brain, but Jaguar Land Rover uses software that extracts only necessary brain waves from the measured data It is. The company has already conducted tests by actual users on this device and it seems that data collection is taking place.


Based on the state of brain waves measured in this manner, the on-board computer monitors the state of the driver, but if it is judged that the driver is in a dangerous state in which the driver is not actually concentrating on driving, the accelerator It is designed to encourage the driver's attention by vibrating the pedals and handles finely. Moreover, if the driver's attention still does not return, "Unprecedented methodWe are studying how to communicate with the driver with "Hello.


The pedal incorporates a device called "actuator" that generates vibration and motion, as described above, in addition to prompting a caution by vibration, when wishing to exceed the speed limit warn the driver by making the accelerator heavy It is thought that usage such as calling attention so as not to collide at the time of traffic congestion is considered.

◆ In-vehicle infotainment system using 'aerial tactile'
Furthermore, Jaguar · Land Rover is also working on the development of an in-vehicle infotainment system that enables "aerial operation". When operating ordinary in-vehicle navigation etc., it moves the finger to the device and moves the finger and touches the button or the screen, but even during this operation of only a few seconds the car moves a distance of several tens of meters , And it can be said that the fact that a slight break of attention leads to an accident is an undeniable fact.

Therefore, the company is promoting the development of new technology that improves the speed and efficiency of exchange between driver and infotainment screen. Specifically, the camera built in the car tracks the movement of the driver's hand, predicting which button the driver is trying to push, and the button is pressed before actually touching the button I will. By omitting the operation to reach the button, the selection speed increased by 22% compared with the past in the trial operation, and as a result the driver took an eye out of the road and the time to see the screen was shortened.


Furthermore, whether the air operation succeeded or not can be known by the feeling sent from the system to the fingertip. For this, a technique called "haptic feedback" is used, and even if the fingertip is not actually touching the surface of the system, you will feel the touch of ultrasound. Because the reaction from the system quickly reaches the brain due to the feeling that the fingertip is tapped lightly, the driver does not have to visually check the screen, so it can continue to concentrate on driving.


Speaking of ultrasonic tactile sensation in nothing space, it is famous for "Aerial Tactile Touch Panel" developed by The University of Tokyo etc. We interviewed in 2014 "Digital contents EXPO"The system which Jaguar · Land Rover system was exhibiting at the same time is very similar.

There is nothing There is a feeling in the air "Touch panel in the air" such as devices using ultrasound Various - GIGAZINE


◆ "Wellness Sheet" to Monitor the Physical Condition of the Driver
In addition to these technologies, the company is also developing special sheets called "wellness seats" that monitor the physical condition of the driver with various sensors incorporated in the seat. Originally it was developed for use in hospitals, but the company said that it customized this for use in automobiles to detect the pulse of the driver and vibration due to respiration.

The usefulness of this system is considered to be mainly in the future when automated vehicles are put to practical use. In such an era, depending on the circumstances, it may be possible for the computer to make a decision to "return control from the computer to the driver's manual", but at such times, By knowing in advance whether it is in a suitable state or not, it is said that the computer will be able to make appropriate judgment.

Dr. Wolfgang Epple, director of research and technology at the company, said that "With the increase in vision and voice manipulation functions, the driver becomes excessive and the attention may become distracting, In order to avoid it, we are exploring ways to communicate with the driver in an unprecedented way.The development of the tactile accelerator pedal that Jaguar Land Rover is working on is aiming to communicate in a nonvisual way, It makes smarter decisions faster and reduces the possibility of accidents, "he says.