The Insomnia Blog by Sleep Doctor Michael Breus, Ph.D.: Mercedes Developing a Car That Will Keep You Awake

Insomnia Blog Links

Beauty Blogs
Sleep is the the best cosmetic medicine: an all-natural anti-aging solution that's safe, effective and free!
Diet, Food, Weight & Wellness Blogs
Sleep regulates hormonal levels that affect hunger and metabolism. Sleeping an extra hour a night can burn up to 14 pounds over the course of a year.
Sleep & Sleep Disorder Blogs
Sleep problems like insomnia and apnea affect most Americans at some time or another. Here are their blogs... plus blogs by physicians, psychologists, and others engaged in the study of sleep.

[The hyperlinks in the article below are mine.]

Mercedes wakes up sleepy drivers

Company developing sensors to spot fatigue, build personal 'profile.'

30 Novemeber 2006

The Detroit News

By Anita Lienert

Mercedes-Benz is working on a new system for detecting driver fatigue that will use a variety of sensors to put together an "individual driver profile."

The German automaker said in late November that it is in the middle of testing the system that will use what it calls "a whole host of factors for fatigue detection, including the individual driving style, the duration of the journey, the time of day and the current traffic situation."

The principal goal of the development project is to detect the gradual transition from the state of being fully awake to being tired -- a gray area that is only now beginning to be understood by automakers.

Mercedes-Benz may incorporate other technologies, such as eye-blink observation, which uses an infrared camera aimed at the driver's head to detect the instant when the eyes stay closed for a certain period of time.

It will also use sensors to track steering and braking that may trigger an alarm if the driver does not move the steering wheel for a long period of time.

The automaker is also looking into the problem of drivers who suffer from sleep apnea, a disorder in which a person stops breathing during the night.

A University of the Ruhr study found that the accident risk while driving is two to three times higher for people suffering from sleep apnea.

During simulated tests, people with sleep apnea caused "significantly more accidents."

The automaker is also looking into the phenomenon of "microsleep," a side effect of fatigue that has a huge impact on reaction time behind the wheel.

Microsleep can happen even if your eyes are open. It hampers the driver's reaction time and can be deadly.

Comments

You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.

I skimmed through some of your posts, they are very interesting. I never knew there was so much information about 'sleep'

This post caught my eye, if only I had this car the other day.

Can I steal this post from you and put it on my blog? I'll give you credit for it of course and maybe we can get some bloggers reading your site as well.

I'll be back to read some more.

Thank you.

Posted by: Elijah | December 20, 2006 at 10:41 AM

Of course. Thanks, Elijah.

Posted by: Michael Breus, Ph.D. | December 20, 2006 at 07:40 PM

Verify your Comment

Previewing your Comment

Posted by: |

This is only a preview. Your comment has not yet been posted.

Your comment could not be posted. Error type:

Your comment has been posted. Post another comment

The letters and numbers you entered did not match the image. Please try again.

As a final step before posting your comment, enter the letters and numbers you see in the image below. This prevents automated programs from posting comments.

Having trouble reading this image? View an alternate.