Ford develops heart rate monitoring seat

Ford engineers have developed a car seat that can monitor a driver's heartbeat, opening the door to a wealth of health, convenience and even life-saving potential. A joint project undertaken by experts from Ford's European Research and Innovation Centre in Aachen, Germany and Rheinisch-Westfalische Technische Hochschule (RWTH) Aachen University, the seat uses six special embedded sensors to detect electrical impulses generated by the heart.
May 16, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
278 Ford engineers have developed a car seat that can monitor a driver's heartbeat, opening the door to a wealth of health, convenience and even life-saving potential. A joint project undertaken by experts from Ford's European Research and Innovation Centre in Aachen, Germany and Rheinisch-Westfalische Technische Hochschule (RWTH) Aachen University, the seat uses six special embedded sensors to detect electrical impulses generated by the heart.

"Although currently still a research project, the heart rate monitor technology developed by Ford and RWTH Aachen University could prove to be a hugely important breakthrough for Ford drivers, and not just in terms of the ability to monitor the hearts of those known to be at risk," said Dr. Achim Lindner, Ford European Research and Innovation Centre medical officer.

"As always in medicine, the earlier a condition is detected the easier it is to treat and this technology even has the potential to be instrumental in diagnosing conditions drivers were previously unaware they had."

Data collected by the sensors, for example, could be analysed by medical experts or onboard computer software. Possibilities therefore abound, notes Lindner, from linking to remote medical services and Ford vehicle safety systems to even providing real-time health information and alerts of imminent cardiovascular issues such as a heart attack.
Location Based Systems

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Advancing traffic management for smart cities
    September 3, 2024
    Promises of increased safety, less pollution, increased productivity and a better quality of life in smart cities are just too good to be ignored. Dany Longval of Teledyne Flir talks through some of the challenges
    Read More
  • Temporary traffic monitoring with Bluetooth and wi-fi
    May 31, 2013
    David Crawford reviews developments in temporary ITS. Widespread take-up of technologies such as Bluetooth and wi-fi are encouraging the emergence of more sophisticated, while still cost effective, ITS responses to the traffic issues posed by temporary road situations such as work zones and special events. Andy Graham of traffic solutions specialists White Willow Consulting says: “A machine-to-machine radio link is far easier and cheaper than reading characters on a plate.” There can be other plusses. Tech
    Read More
  • Bristol’s buses trial CycleEye detection system
    July 7, 2017
    Fusion Processing’s Jim Hutchinson looks at a two-year trial of the company’s cyclist detection system. Is cycling in a city dangerous? Well, that depends where you are and how you view statistics. Malmö is far more bike-friendly than Mumbai and the risk can either be perceived as small - one death per 29 million miles cycled in the UK in 2013 - or large - that equated to 109 deaths in the same year. Whatever your personal take on the data, the effect of these accidents can be felt indirectly too. News of c
    Read More
  • ANPR developments in the Spanish market
    February 2, 2012
    Gonzalo García Palacios, R&D engineer with Quality Information Systems, writes about ANPR developments in the Spanish market In an increasing number of countries, Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) systems are a growing market. They have become a fundamental part of many ITS systems, whether publicly or privately owned, and essential to any user which looks seriously to give the best services to its customers or wants to improve its facilities' performance.
    Read More

Highlighted Content