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Mercedes-Benz is in the final stages of testing a new type of assistance system to warn the driver of tiredness and the dreaded phenomenon of nodding off at the wheel.
The system uses sensors to analyse driving behaviour and recognises tiredness-related changes in the driver's personal driving style. In this event the driver is prompted to take a break.
"Official statistics cite tiredness as the reason behind around one per cent of all serious traffic accidents although experts believe that this figure could be higher," said Mercedes-Benz Cars, Middle East and Levant director Johannes Fritz.
"The assistance system developed by Mercedes-Benz is designed to detect the early signs of tiredness and warn the driver. It will, therefore, make an important contribution to the prevention of accidents."
Unlike other methods of detecting tiredness, the Mercedes-Benz system evaluates a series of indicators in order to assess the alertness of the driver and to recognise the gradual transition between being awake and being tired.
During every journey Attention Assist continuously observes the driver's typical behaviour patterns and uses these to create an individual driver profile which serves as a basis for recognising the symptoms of tiredness. Where there is a significant deviation from the saved values, the system determines whether or not there are signs of encroaching tiredness. Whether and when the driver is warned also depends on the time of day, the duration of the trip and the individual's driving style.
The values recorded by the tiredness recognition system not only include the speed and the longitudinal and lateral acceleration but also the angle of the steering wheel, the way that the indicators and pedals are used, certain driver control actions and various external influences such as a side wind or an uneven road surface.
Observation of the steering behaviour has proven particularly significant: tired drivers can be spotted by a series of typical steering wheel movements which they then immediately correct. The new Mercedes assistance system recognises if the driver's steering behaviour changes and other indicators also pointing towards tiredness and outputs a warning alarm and a symbol in the instrument cluster advising the driver to take a break.
The development of the unique assistance system began with a series of experiments in the driving simulator in Berlin. These were followed by daytime and night-time motorway trials. Over 420 test people have taken part in these to date and so far they have covered a total of over 500,000 kilometres.
The test programme for Attention Assist will be rounded off with long-term trials in various climate zones, in city traffic, on poor roads and on long-distance trips. The Mercedes development team not only includes engineers but also cyberneticists, mathematicians, computer scientists and psychologists.
Once all of the tests have been completed, the system will go into series production at Mercedes-Benz in 2009.
