All cars to have tracker that wakes up drivers falling asleep at wheel
ADVANCED technology systems that track drivers’ eyes when they are in danger of falling asleep are set to become mandatory for all cars within five years.
The cutting-edge devices could prevent hundreds of deaths on the road each year.
Already available in some manufacturers’ cars, the monitoring systems measure the percentage of time a driver’s eyes are closed. If they appear to be getting drowsy, an alert sounds urging them to take a break.
In the most advanced versions, if the warning is ignored, a car will enter an emergency state with its speed automatically reduced and a message sent out to a call centre requesting that a phone call is made to the driver.
Should the driver still not respond, an emergency stop can then be activated, with the on-call system staying on the line and sending further help if needed.
The European Parliament has brought in rules that are almost certain to make the systems compulsory for newly introduced models from May 2022 and for all new vehicles from May 2024. A similar timescale is likely to apply to the UK, regardless of Brexit, under technical specifications developed by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe.
The ultimate decision on whether the requirements should be mandatory in the UK will be made by the Government at a later date.
Road casualty statistics show that drowsy drivers contributed to 53 fatal and 351 serious crashes in the UK in 2017.
However, it is widely accepted that the true figure for fatigue-related crashes is much higher due to underreporting, with up to 25 per cent of fatal accidents estimated to have been caused by drivers falling asleep at the wheel – equating to about 400 of the 1,770 road deaths in the UK last year.
Privacy campaigners have nevertheless expressed fears that the new eye-tracking technology could be manipulated to make money by analysing the movements of a driver’s face.
This could even extend to being able to track a passenger’s gaze to see what adverts they are looking at and monitor the emotions of people through their facial expressions.
In March, Volvo announced that from the early 2020s all of its models will be fitted with driver-monitoring technology to tackle distracted or drunk drivers.
Cameras will detect when a driver has taken their eyes off the road for long enough to create a risk, with safety systems then engaged to send an alert to the motorist.
A spokesman for the Department for Transport said: ‘We continuously work with partners around the world to improve the safety standards of all vehicles.
‘These interventions should deliver a step-change in road safety across Europe, including the UK, and driver awareness technologies could help save dozens of lives a year.’