Skip to main content

Sweden working on device to test tiredness of drivers

Marcus Nyström, researcher at the Lund University Humanities Lab, in Sweden, has revealed that the lab is currently developing a product that will be able to test if a person is too tired to drive. The project uses eyetracking, where a driver is required to follow a moving ball and his eye movements and pupil reactions are evaluated to determine if he/she is too tired to drive safely.
April 18, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
RSSMarcus Nyström, researcher at the Lund University Humanities Lab, in Sweden, has revealed that the lab is currently developing a product that will be able to test if a person is too tired to drive. The project uses eyetracking, where a driver is required to follow a moving ball and his eye movements and pupil reactions are evaluated to determine if he/she is too tired to drive safely.

The project has already tested 24 people in cooperation with the Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI) in Linköping. Initial reports seem to confirm that the theory can work in practice. According to Christer Ahlström of VTI, a product of this nature would be in high demand by police forces, who are interested in finding an efficient way to measure how tired a driver is.

Under Swedish law, drivers are forbidden to drive motor vehicles when they are too tired. To date, however, there is no tool for accurately measuring this.

Related Content

  • AVs and poor weather – a bad mix
    May 11, 2020
    The US DoT has produced a report on how adverse weather and road conditions will affect automated vehicles – it found inconsistency between different cars with these features which are already on highways and suggests limitations are not yet understood
  • Oregon tests new mileage-base charging scheme
    August 5, 2013
    Jack Opiola from D’Artagnan Consulting LLP explains Oregon’s latest moves which mandated a trial of mileage-based road use charging. In 1919, Oregon made the 20th century’s most significant contribution to transportation funding policy, becoming the first state in America to implement a gas tax to pay for roads. This summer Oregon’s Legislature passed, and Governor John Kitzhaber signed into law, Senate Bill 810 which requires a distance-based road usage charge for 5,000 volunteer vehicles by 1 July 2015. T
  • Crash prevention systems improving rapidly says IIHS
    June 2, 2014
    According to its latest report, less than a year into a new Insurance |Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) ratings program for front crash prevention, auto manufacturers are making strides in adopting the most beneficial systems with automatic braking capabilities and are offering the features on a wider variety of models. Twenty-one of 24 cars and SUVs, all 2014 models unless noted, earn an advanced or higher rating in the latest round of IIHS evaluations. "We are already seeing improvements from automaker
  • ITS Japan discusses World Congress legacies
    September 8, 2014
    It is often overlooked that the end of an ITS World Congress can be a dynamic beginning and the legacy can be far-reaching. Hajime Amano, President and CEO of ITS Japan explains how each time the country has hosted an ITS World Congress it has brought about major new national initiatives