Sweden: Volvo Group invests in tiredness-detection technology
Tuesday, December 18, 2007, AutomotiveWorld.com
Volvo Technology Transfer, a division of Gothenburg-based Volvo Group, has announced an investment in Seeing Machines, an Australian company that has invented a technology which detects fatigue and automatically warns a vehicle's driver.
Experiences from Volvo Group's collision investigations and general traffic safety research show that the most common causes or crashes are a combination of human error, vehicle problems and/or the traffic environment, in which the human factor accounts for 90% of accidents, it is claimed.
The Group's findings have been confirmed by new research conducted at the Virginia Tech Transport Institute, Volvo Technology Transfer states. This demonstrates even more distinctly that inattentiveness, due to tiredness or distraction, is the single largest and most significant cause of vehicle collisions.
Seeing Machines evolved from the research results of a number of projects at the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra between 1997 and 2000. The company's expertise is in computerised technology that is able to track and follow head and eye movements as well as facial expressions.
As fitted to experimental versions of Volvo trucks, the system includes a small camera that films the driver, instantly passing data to a processing unit that automatically detects signs of tiredness and/or distraction at the wheel. A specific calculation programme processes the information from images and measures the position of the head and rotation, eye movements and eyelid behaviour.
The degree of tiredness in the driver is measured by registering how the eyes open and close; should the driver close his/her eyes, this is instantly logged, while distraction and work load is measured using head and eye movements.
Volvo Technology Transfer AB develops and supports new businesses that are relevant to Volvo Group. Part of its remit is to invest in companies and projects that are technologically and commercially attractive, the company states.
Published on Tuesday, December 18, 2007
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