A Measuring Method for the Level of Consciousness while Driving Vehicles

Recently, the driver’s attention while driving a vehicle has to be taken seriously in a modernized society. Although some studies of attention while driving are being conducted now, the character of human activity is complicated for estimating attention while driving a vehicle. In the present study, the driver’s attention was studied by driving performance and meandering of the vehicle. Two sets of drivers were used to compare driving while alert and while drowsy. For driving performance, the degree of steering and the degree of acceleration were measured. For meandering, the shoulder line on the road was detected by a CCD camera to calculate the coordinates of the vehicles. These three values showed the dynamical degree of the driver’s attention. The results show that the meandering values and the degree of steering values correlated with the degree of attention of the driver, and these results can be applied to make an alert system for drivers during decreased consciousness or concentration in order to realize a safe society for our modern roadways.