Meet the Jaguar that can read your mind
JAGUAR Land Rover plans to build cars that can read your mind.
The basis of the so-called Mind Sense research is to see if a car could effectively read the brainwaves that indicate a driver is beginning to daydream, or feeling sleepy, while driving.
The human brain continually generates four or more distinct brainwaves at different frequencies. By continually monitoring which type of brainwave is dominant, an on-board computer could potentially assess whether a driver is focused, daydreaming, sleepy, or distracted.
“If brain activity indicates a daydream or poor concentration, then the steering wheel or pedals could vibrate to raise the driver’s awareness and re-engage them with driving,” says a Jaguar Land Rover spokesman.
“If Mind Sense does not detect a surge in brain activity following the car displaying a warning icon or sound, then it could display it again, or communicate with the driver in a different way, to ensure the driver is made aware of a potential hazard.”
This telepathic ability is part of a new range of road safety technology research projects that are being developed to reduce the number of accidents caused by drivers who are stressed, distracted and not concentrating on the road ahead.
The Jaguar Land Rover ‘Sixth Sense’ research projects utilise advanced technology from sports, medicine and aerospace, to monitor the driver’s heart rate, respiration and levels of brain activity to identify driver stress, fatigue and lack of concentration.
The UK-based team is also looking at innovations that would reduce the amount of time the driver’s eyes are off the road while driving, and how to communicate with the driver via pulses and vibrations through the accelerator pedal.
The most common method for monitoring brainwaves is using sensors attached to a headband, something that would be impractical in a vehicle. Jaguar Land Rover is inves- tigating a method already used by NASA to develop a pilot’s concentration skills and also by the US bobsleigh team to enhance concentration and focus.
This detects brainwaves through the hands via sensors embedded in the steering wheel.
Because the sensing is taking place further away from the driver’s head, software is used to amplify the signal and filter out the pure brainwave from any background ‘noise’.
Jaguar Land Rover is currently conducting user trials to collect more information on the different brainwaves identified through the steering wheel sensors and will involve leading neuroscientists in the project to verify the results.
Jaguar Land Rover is also assessing how a vehicle could monitor the well-being of the driver using a medical-grade sensor embedded in the seat of a Jaguar XJ.
The sensor, which was originally developed for use in hospitals, has been adapted for in-car use and detects vibrations from the driver’s heartbeat and breathing.
“As we develop more autonomous driving technologies, there will be instances when the autonomous car needs to hand control back to the driver,” added the spokesman.
“To do this safely the car will need to know if the driver is alert and well enough to take over. So our research team is looking at the potential for a range of driver monitoring technologies to give the car enough information to support this decision. If the car detects severe health issues, or simply how alert the driver is, then the car could take steps to ensure the driver is focussed enough on the driving task to take over.”
Jaguar Land Rover is also working on increasing the speed and efficiency of the interaction between the driver and the infotainment screen.
The Predictive Infotainment Screen prototype uses cameras to track the driver’s hand movements and predict which button the driver intends to press next.