NHTSA and Delphi Technology Focusing on Distracted Drivers
IVsource.net
30 April 2003

A recent NHTSA report provides the results of a national survey focusing on distracted driving (including cell phone use) and drowsy driving.  To better deal with distracted drivers, the US government has joined with a team led by Delphi to develop an adaptive driver workload manager in a $6M project.

The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recently published a report entitled “National Survey Of Distracted & Drowsy Driving Attitudes & Behaviors: 2002,” which focuses on distracted driving (including cell phone use) and drowsy driving.  At the same time, they are investing in technological approaches to supporting drivers in complex situations.

What Drivers Say About Distraction

Data in the NHTSA report will be used to help identify the extent to which potentially distracting behaviors are undertaken by drivers, and to understand the characteristics of those engaging in these behaviors, so that programs can be developed to reduce these behaviors where they have been shown to be dangerous.  The data come from two surveys each conducted during the Spring of 2002 with over 4,000 drivers in the United States.

The survey findings show that most drivers at least occasionally engage in behaviors that draw some of their attention away from their driving task.  The most common of these behaviors include familiar activities of talking with other passengers (81%), changing radio stations or CDs (66%), and eating or drinking while driving (49%).  While it is estimated that more than a billion driving trips are made weekly by drivers engaging in each of these behaviors, the report says that fewer than one in four drivers perceive these particular activities as distracting or as making driving much more dangerous.

About one in four drivers uses a cell phone while driving for either inbound (26%) or outbound calls (25%), while a similar proportion deals with children in a back seat (24%).  Close to one-half of drivers perceive these behaviors to make driving much more dangerous, although drivers who use cell phones are only half as likely as non-users to feel cell phone use is dangerous.  Regarding drowsy driving, over a third, (37%) of drivers report having nodded off or falling asleep at least once since they began driving, and 8% noted that they have done so in the past six months.  Nearly half of drivers who nodded off report doing so between 9:00PM and 6:00AM.

About one quarter (26%) of drivers have been involved in a crash in the past five years.  Less than 4% of drivers attribute a crash they've had in the past 5 years to their being distracted.  Less than 1% attribute a crash they've had to drowsy driving, while one-tenth of 1 percent (0.1%) of drivers attribute a crash they've had to their cell phone use.

Delphi Team to the Rescue

Because driver distraction countermeasures are a key priority for the agency, NHTSA -- supported by the survey results -- selected a team led by Delphi Corporation to conduct a three-year, $6M cost-shared research program on driver distraction.  General Motors, Ford, the University of Michigan, and SeeingMachines are all members of the team.  The government’s Volpe National Transportation Systems Center is administering the program.

The project is called Safety Vehicles Using Adaptive Interface Technologies (or "SAVE-IT").  The objective is to demonstrate a viable proof-of-concept system that is capable of reducing distraction-related crashes and enhancing the effectiveness of collision warning systems.  The major components of the system are a sensor array, a workload manager, and an adaptive interface.

More specifically, the system approach is expected to be something along the lines of the following:  an adaptive system monitors the moment-to-moment roadway and in-vehicle demands on the driver, integrates the monitored information to determine when drivers are distracted or overloaded, and then makes adjustments to the driver-vehicle interface to prevent a possible crash.

The ultimate aim is to create a uniform design that will be consistent from vehicle to vehicle.

The program has two phases.  The first is focused on human factors analysis and technology development.  The second phase involves algorithm and guideline development, data fusion, integrated countermeasures development, and benefits evaluation.

SeeingMachines offers driver monitoring technology, based on their faceLAB™ system, which enables head, face, and gaze tracking.  This capability is key to understanding the demands on the driver.  Their technology is outlined at www.seeingmachines.com. 

Cost sharing is approximately 50/50:  the government share for the project is $2.9M, with the Delphi team providing the remaining $3.1M.

The concept of “driver workload managers” has been around for several years, as pioneers Delphi and Motorola developed the concept and prototyped several systems.  This new activity by the US government appears to be geared towards accelerating the development of such systems, assessing their effectiveness, and supporting the development of industry guidelines for their implementation.

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For More Information ...

... the full report can be downloaded from the NHTSA web site.

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