This paper presents details of an experiment carried out under the DRIVE (Dedicated Road Infrastructure for Vehicle Safety in Europe) programme to determine the feasibility devices codenamed DREAM (Driver Related Evaluation and Monitoring) whose objective is to monitor driver performance continuously using various vehicle parameters. The objective was to measure the effects upon driving performance ofexternal factors such as alcohol, driver overload (heavy traffic conditions) or driver underload (boredom) and see if these could be monitored by parameters such as intervehicle distance, or vehicle tracking. Twenty male subjects aged between 25-40 years old completed anexperiment that consisted of 2 driving tests carried out on 2 separate days. The first day consisted of an hour long test taken under the influence of alcohol (average blood alcohol concentration was 0.046% at the start of the experiment and 0.035% at the end). The second day was a 2.5 hour test under vigilance conditions. The first partof the experiment consisted of a car following test on a busy traffic ring around the city of Groningen. The second part was a standarddriving test with subjects being instructed to drive along a quiet 75 km motorway track for 50 minutes, keeping the test vehicle in themiddle of the right traffic lane at a steady speed of 100 km/hr. The third part consisted of driving along a second, busier motorway for a further 100 minutes and the final part was a second 15 minute car following test. Only the first 2 parts were undertaken on the first day. Tests were conducted in a modified VOLVO 245 GLD. The following items were measured continuously: (i) lateral position of the carrelative to the lane markings; (ii) steering wheel position; (iii) speed of test vehicle; (iv) distance from the car in front; (v) speed of the car in front; (vi) driver's heart rate (via ECG) and driver's EEG. The conclusion reached was that it would be feasible to develop a monitoring device on the basis of unobtrusive vehicle parameters alone.
Abstract