If you’ve ever been angry or sad on the road, you would know that those simple human emotions can impair your driving abilities. Road rage and teary eyes can cause traffic accidents and severe consequences. We know how bad our tempers can get, because 80% of Canadians have admitted to hostile driving due to rage. You can get more info on this statistic here. So, wouldn’t it be nice if our cars could calm us down when that Volkswagen cuts us off or the driver of that Ford decides to make an illegal left turn during rush hour? That’s what an in-car emotion detector is capable of doing.
In a moment of intensity, it is often hard to judge our motor skills since our mind is focused on something else. Technology that helps us measure our impairment might sound unpleasant—like really, can a robot truly understand how I feel after I’ve lost my job or had an argument with my wife? The vehicle might not be a shoulder to cry on, but it might just know the formula to get us home safe after a really bad day.
You Can Learn More About Yourself
You probably don’t even know when you are irritated, annoyed or just plain angry. You also might not want to admit that you are tired and stressed out. Emotions are so natural to us that we aren’t always aware of them. So, car manufacturers have taken a leap into developing vehicles not only to understand us, but also to help us understand ourselves.
Car safety researchers all across in North America and Europe have been working together to understand what happens when we get ticked off—and then they try to understand what calms us down and helps us find the optimal driving emotion.
Engineering students from the University of Waterloo have found that music, temperature and physical tension are possible solutions to soothe the beast within us. The technology measures the driver’s heart rate, grip on the steering wheel and facial expressions to gather the information needed to properly access his or her emotions.
From playing a relaxing song to rolling down the window to seat massages, this new innovation is addressing an aspect of driving that we often try to brush aside. Human errors happen – that is what we like to say, but that doesn’t mean it’s okay.
You Can Stop Road Rage From Killing You
Road rage remains one of the leading causes of car accidents in Canada. And Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland believe that emotion detectors in cars may be the solution.
Fear, anger, joy, sadness, disgust, surprise and suspicion are the seven emotions that the detectors are designed to recognize. Working closely with French automobile manufacturer, PSA Peugeot Citroën, researchers at EPFL have concluded that irritation is the most dangerous emotion on the road, but every person expresses it differently. Some are more violent, while others show it simply with their facial expressions. The technology under development is working through some algorithms to re-examine the behaviour of each individual driver (i.e. a self-taught human-machine interface).
No More Fatigue
Not only should we be concerned about being angry or upset while driving, we should always be aware of our conscious level—are we too tried to drive? Are we distracted by something else?
Another key facial recognition is that of fatigue. After all, if you can’t focus on the road, you can’t drive. By detecting the percentage of eyelid closure, the vehicle will be able to use procedures to alert the driver, which involve waking them up with sounds, vibrations, lights or fragrance.
Safer Roads in the Future
Vehicles that recognize our emotions are paving the way for the next line of innovations that will help the roads become a safer place. Even insurance companies have started to recognize this and have been offering discounts accordingly.
As manufacturers such as Volvo, Volkswagen and Ford start to include emotion detectors in their cars, expect a new driving culture to emerge as well. We wouldn’t attend a social event frustrated and dishevelled, would we? Of course not. We shouldn’t drive that same way either because driving at its core is in fact a social activity that involves you, the car and many other drivers on the road. So, be kind to yourself and others.
