Towards the development of design guidelines handbook for driver hypovigilance detection and warning - the AWAKE approach

Driver hypovigilance is one of the primary factors in the European road accidents statistics. Around 30% of the total road accidents, have as primary or secondary cause the driver hypovigilance. The European Commission and the international transportation sector have closely focused on driver monitoring systems during the last years, in order to support the goal of 50% reduction in road accidents by year 2010. AWAKE is a European project, funded by the IST programme of the European Commission, encompassing 16 partners from key industries, research institutes and universities. AWAKE project develops a driver hypovigilance monitoring system, the AWAKE system, which detects in real-time driver hypovigilance and warns the driver through an enhanced multimedia human-machine interface. AWAKE is estimating driver status by a stochastic processing of multiple parameters (including unobtrusive monitoring of driver´s physiological parameters, such as eye-blinks and steering grip force and behavioural parameters, such as vehicle position on the lane, headway, speed profile, steering wheel angle, etc.). The objective of AWAKE is to increase traffic safety by reducing the number and the consequences of traffic accidents caused by driver hypovigilance.