Detecting driver inattention in the absence of driver monitoring sensors

A classifier was trained to detect driver inattention using output from typical sensors available on modern vehicles equipped with a Collision Avoidance System (CAS). A driving simulator was used to collect driver and vehicle data from ten subjects during normal driving periods and during periods where drivers looked away from their forward view as they turned their head to look at a detailed image in their blindspot. This data was used to train a 2-state (attentive, inattentive) and 3-state (attentive, inattentive left, inattentive right) classifier. Monitoring of driver attention is typically performed by in-vehicle cameras or specialized sensors but we were able to use simulated CAS sensor output to detect over 80% of driver inattention time segments in the absence of driver monitoring sensors.