Occupant Gaze Assessment for Autonomous Vehicle Safety
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current systems fail to effectively monitor and respond to a vehicle occupant's gaze direction in relation to road features, particularly in autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicles, leading to potential inattentiveness and safety issues.
Innovation Solution
An apparatus and method that utilize sensors to detect the occupant's gaze direction and compare it to road features like curvature and elevation changes, triggering corrective actions such as warnings or disengaging automated driving if the gaze is not aligned with the road, using a processor to execute instructions for gaze detection, road feature determination, and performance of corrective actions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If automated driving controls are used, then productivity is improved, but reliability deteriorates due to potential occupant inattentiveness
Solution Approach 1:
The system continuously monitors the occupant's gaze direction using sensors and compares it with the expected road feature positions obtained from mapping information and vehicle environment data. When a mismatch is detected (indicating inattentiveness), the system provides feedback through warnings or corrective actions to restore proper attention, thereby maintaining safety while enabling automated driving.
2Reliability
If gaze monitoring and corrective actions are implemented, then reliability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The apparatus integrates multiple functions into a single system: gaze detection using sensors, road feature position determination using mapping information and environment sensors, comparison logic, and corrective action execution. This multi-functional integration achieves improved safety while managing system complexity through unified architecture rather than separate independent systems.
Data Source
AI summary
A method of assessing a gaze of an occupant is provided. The method includes: determining a direction of a gaze of an occupant based on gaze information detected by a first sensor; determining a position of a feature of road based on one or more from among mapping information or vehicle environment information provided by a second sensor; comparing the direction of the gaze to the position of the feature of the road; and performing a corrective action in response to determining that the direction of the gaze does not correspond to the position of the feature of the road.