Several cars already have this feature. https://www.autonews.com/technology/subaru-safety-feature-watches-drivers-eyes https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/28/business/autonomous-cars-technology-privacy.html With its 2018 Cadillac CT6, for example, General Motors introduced an infrared camera that looks up from the steering column at drivers. The feature is part of the car’s Super Cruise system, the first hands-free driving tool to operate on select United States highways. The camera tracks a driver’s head position and eye movements to ensure that the person is attentive and able to retake control of the car when needed. Similar concerns about BMW’s semi-autonomous systems prompted the German carmaker to add a driver monitoring camera in its 2019 X5 sport utility vehicle.
Cadillac and BMW? All that fancy technology is fine for the cars of wealthy people, but Ford’s SafeCap seems to solve the problem and do the job at a fraction of the cost for regular, working-class truckers. It seems like a decent solution for truckers who may not have access to technologically-advanced, commercial vehicles.
And Subaru if you read that. Volvo, Toyota, Mercedes, and Audi are also working on it. If you remember back in the day, things like backup cameras, blind spot monitoring, and all the other safety features, all started out on the highest trim levels of the highest models. It's only in the past couple years that those features became common place and more available on cheaper cars. https://www.jdpower.com/cars/shopping-guides/what-is-subaru-driverfocus-technology https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16478-invention-sleepy-driver-sensor/ Several manufacturers, including Audi, Mercedes and Volvo, currently offer drowsiness detection systems that monitor a vehicle’s movements, such as steering wheel angle, lane deviation, time driven and road conditions. When drowsiness is detected, drivers are typically warned with a sound and the appearance of a coffee cup icon. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/16/automobiles/wheels/drowsy-driving-technology.html They also make aftermarket systems that can be installed in almost any vehicle. https://www.fleetcam.com/ -------- Don’t begin searching for the SafeCap just yet. Right now it’s only a prototype. Ford hopes to generate sufficient interest and demand to justify putting it into production. Introduced at a recent Sao Paulo truck show, SafeCap, if given the go ahead, could be on the market internationally in the next 12 to 18 months. Ford hasn’t estimated a retail cost for SafeCap, but it probably won’t be cheap. https://media.ford.com/content/ford...k-division-created-the-safe-cap--a-truly.html And it was over 27 months ago that they created it as a prototype. Still not available anywhere.
And evidently the FleetCam also became recently integrated into some Garmin GPS systems. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-rel...werful-video-telematics-device-301015409.html Real-time in-cab alerts dually catch a driver’s attention and help prevent crashes. The FleetCam® driver monitoring system is a comprehensive collision prevention system that uses cameras, sensors and artificial intelligence to track the driver’s eye movement and behavior. An audiovisual alert from the in-cab device wakes up drivers who are falling asleep, discourage drivers from texting while driving, and help enforce your no-smoking policy. These FleetCam® in-cab alerts will also let drivers know when they’re following a vehicle too closely, accelerating too quickly, braking too harshly, making unsafe lane departures or erratic movements.
