Driver Gesture Detection for Safe Automated Vehicle Takeover

Solution Overview

Problem

The transition from automatic driving to manual driving in vehicles is often not smooth, leading to potential safety issues and traffic congestion, as existing technologies lack effective methods to ensure the driver's readiness and ability to take over control.

Innovation Solution

A vehicle control system that includes an imager and circuitry to detect specific gesture actions indicating the driver's wakefulness, such as pointing and checking the vehicle's direction, allowing for safe switching from automatic to manual driving mode.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If emergency stopping is performed when takeover is not successfully performed, then driver safety is improved, but traffic congestion occurs at locations with large amounts of traffic

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedriver safetyVSAvoidtraffic flow

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary detection of the driver's awake state through gesture recognition before switching from automatic to manual driving mode. By detecting specific gestures (pointing and checking actions) that indicate the driver is awake and ready, the system ensures the driver is prepared to take control before the transition occurs, preventing failed takeovers and subsequent emergency stopping that would cause traffic congestion

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The system continuously monitors the driver's state through image recognition and provides feedback by detecting whether the driver has performed awakening gestures. This feedback mechanism allows the system to confirm the driver's readiness before mode switching, ensuring safe takeover while maintaining smooth traffic flow by avoiding unnecessary emergency stops

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

2Speed

If driver readiness is not verified before mode switching, then switching speed is improved, but safety is deteriorated

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvemode switching speedVSAvoiddriving safety

Core Design Contradiction:

SpeedVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary detection of the driver's awake state through gesture recognition before switching from automatic to manual driving mode. By detecting specific gestures (pointing and checking actions) that indicate the driver is awake and ready, the system ensures the driver is prepared to take control before the transition occurs, preventing failed takeovers and subsequent emergency stopping that would cause traffic congestion

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The system continuously monitors the driver's state through image recognition and provides feedback by detecting whether the driver has performed awakening gestures. This feedback mechanism allows the system to confirm the driver's readiness before mode switching, ensuring safe takeover while maintaining smooth traffic flow by avoiding unnecessary emergency stops

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

Data Source

PatentUS12124259B2Vehicle control device and vehicle control method

Publication Date: 2024.10.22 SONY SEMICON SOLUTIONS CORP

AI summary

There is provided a vehicle control device including an imager that images a driver, and circuitry configured to detect a gesture action indicating that the driver is awake based on an image captured by the imager, and switch a driving mode in response to the detected gesture action.