A steering wheel add-on that senses fatigue and also tracks the driver’s grip; has been developed by a German engineering firm Hoffman and Krippner, in cooperation with Guttersberg consulting. This new technology of theirs utilizes the fact that the pressure applied and the movements on the steering wheel by an alert driver differ from that by a drowsy, unconscious or unwell driver as the latter tend to lose their grip and move their hands less on the steering wheel.

This add-on or little device consists of a thin strip of sensors (developed by Guttersberg Consulting) that are fixed to the inside rim of the steering wheel, beneath the covering. This thin strip of sensors called “Sensofoil” is made up of thin layers of foil having weak electrical current running through them. An alert driver when holds the steering wheel, pressure is applied on the layers and makes them to come in contact with each other causing short circuits. An inbuilt microprocessor keeps track of the intensity, frequency and location of the shorts to establish a driving pattern for respective users. When the driver is drowsy, his grip weakens and that causes to the pressure on the sensors to drop creating a different pattern of the shorts. This deviation is picked by the add-on and the driver of the car is alerted to pull over or wake up.

As per the firm, the resistive technology used in this add-on is another advantage because it works even when the driver is wearing gloves and also it is less sensitive to dirt, sweat and temperature changes. But the commercialization is still a far-fetched idea and will take years to trickle down to low-priced cars.

[adinserter block=”7″]

Author:Technology Blog