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

  • Fixed or wireless communications?
    February 3, 2012
    Optelecom-NKF's Coen Hooghiemstra considers the play-offs and pay-offs involved when deciding whether to go for fixed or wireless communications solutions
    Read More
  • Joined-up thinking for future ITS
    May 8, 2015
    David Crawford looks at a US model which, for modest federal funding, is producing substantive results. Outward and upward is the clear message emerging from the US$458,000, 2015 workplan of the US government’s ENTERPRISE (Evaluating New TEchnologies for Roads PRogram Initiatives in Safety and Efficiency) joint funding scheme for ITS research.
    Read More
  • Managed motorways, hard shoulder running aids safety, saves time
    January 30, 2012
    The announcement that, in 2012/13, work to extend Managed Motorways to Junctions 5-8 of the M6 near Birmingham in the West Midlands is scheduled to start marks the next step for the UK's hard shoulder running concept, first introduced on the M42 in 2006. The M6 scheme is in fact one of several announced; over the next few years work will start on applying Managed Motorways to various sections of the M1, M25 London Orbital, M60 and M62. According to Paul Unwin, senior project manager with the Highways Agency
    Read More
  • Positive incentives an alternative to road user charging?
    February 1, 2012
    The Netherlands has been looking at incentivising rush-hour avoidance. The intention is to better understand road users' motivations and find alternatives to congestion charging. Something significant needs to happen if we are to adequately address the traffic congestion and other issues caused by the ever-rising numbers of vehicles on our roads. Congestion or distance-based charging is seen as one way of managing demand and raising revenue for improvements to transport infrastructure. However, charging is
    Read More

Highlighted Content