Inattention is one of the major killers on our roads – it’s responsible for as many road deaths as drink driving and speeding combined. A team of Australian researchers think they have a solution for that. They have developed a new weapon against deadly fatigue and distraction behind the wheel: a car powered by driver attentiveness. The world’s first ‘brain-powered’ car uses a headset to monitor brain activity and slow acceleration during periods of distraction.
The Royal Automobile Club WA (RAC), in conjunction with specialist research firm, has unveiled a headset device which communicates directly with a car’s engine. Essentially, if the driver’s level of attention drops – through fatigue or a distraction, for example – the car eases off the accelerator to safely slow down, alerting them to their lapse in concentration. Dr Geoffrey Mackellar, chief technical officer at Emotiv, commented: ‘We can’t read thoughts, but we can figure out to a fair approximation what’s going on in the brain, in general terms.
The software is being hailed as a breakthrough for smart phone distractions, general fatigue and driver drowsiness. A leading road safety expert described the device as “a step in the right direction” in the fight against driver inattentiveness, which is attributed as a factor in up to 46 per cent of fatal crashes nationally.
“The sooner we get this technology into cars, the better it will be. We’ve always got to inform drivers what their state of mind is and how safe they’re driving. Anything we can feed back to the driver – so long as it’s not distractive – has got to be beneficial.” Says RAC general manager Pat Walker.
