SEATBELT TECHNOLOGY TO TELL YOU WHEN YOU’RE FALLING ASLEEP

EU Project Has Developed Technology To Prevent You Falling Asleep At the Wheel

Non-invasive heart and respiratory rate monitoring devices are a common sight in the medical devices industry, and are now slowly appearing in other industries, including automobile safety. The Harken device was developed by a European-based consortium, made up of companies, universities and technology centres and has received aide and support from the European Union, EU. The system was developed in order to tackle driver fatigue which can lead to serious accidents.

It is estimated that 8.3 per cent of vehicle accidents in the EU are down to driver fatigue. This represents 100,000 crashes and something in the order of 7,000 fatalities annually. The system is comprised of three main components, the seat cover sensor, the seatbelt sensor and the signal processing unit (SPU). Respiratory and heart rates are monitored by embedded sensors, if the measurements indicate the driver may be falling asleep, a signal is sent to the SPU and an alarm is sounded to warn the driver.

The system uses advanced technology that can filter out unwanted noise, such a vibrations from the vehicle or driver movement. The prototype system has already been tested in closed track tests and has shown some positives results. Soon the system will undergo live traffic tests to provide real life conditions. If it proves successful it could become a vital part of automobile safety and ultimately save many lives.