If done correctly, drowsiness can be quantified from its early stage through to the late stages. There is a biological based change that occurs in the transition from alertness to sleep in everyone. This drowsiness indicator has been proven independently in multiple sleep studies.

In this presentation we will discuss the recent convergence of technology and the changes in regulatory and safety landscape that now makes it possible to measure drowsiness in passenger vehicles.

We will describe the importance of the right “Ground Truth” in the development of any drowsiness detection system.

The benefits of objective measurements of drowsiness extends beyond a person’s state of mind at a single point in time. Recent advancements in cameras, image processing, facial feature extraction, and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) have made it possible to interact with the driver and their environment directly. In this presentation, we will also describe a multi-stage approach to the application of countermeasures. This ensures driver comfort is preserved while prolonging the duration of safe driving by introducing tiered levels of countermeasure intensity that is best suited to remedy the various stages of driver drowsiness.