Watching the alpha and beta waves of one’s brain undulating across a screen while gripping a steering wheel, is one of the more bizarre experiences of automotive R&D. But that is what JLR (Jaguar Land Rover) is putting its mind to as it delves deep into how to eliminate the effects of driver fatigue or inattention using highly subtle techniques.
“Our project is called Mind Sense and has the ultimate goal of developing a system to detect whether a driver is concentrating, alert and focused, or distracted; we are doing so by monitoring what is going on in the brain,” said Dr. Laura Millen, Human Factors Researcher and leader of the project. “We can’t expect drivers to put on a headset carrying sensors so part of our research project is to look for non-intrusive ways to collect the same data.”
The result is what is probably the world’s most extraordinary steering wheel, which forms part of a novel test rig: “We are evaluating a prototype with four sensors on the back of the upper part of the wheel’s rim.”