Ford wants to shut off access to your cellphone and texting while driving but only when the highway is jammed and you’ve got enough to do already. Biometric sensors in the seat and steering wheel measure stresses on the driver, while sonar, radar and cameras measure traffic flow around the car. The data feeds into a “driver workload estimator” algorithm that determines when you, personally, reach sensory overload. It temporarily sets a Do Not Disturb flag on your cellphone; inbound calls are shunted to voicemail and texts aren’t announced.
Driver distraction is on the government’s mind, too. Some of the thinking out of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) holds that if you forbid car-phone connectivity, drivers will put down their cellphones. Automakers argue, at least privately, that we’re unlikely to change our bad habits so it’s better to use the car to display incoming callers, or read texts aloud. Now comes Ford with the idea that everyone has a different overload point and the car can dial back access individually: more for you, less for me. What sounds like Big Brother may be more like a big brother who really has your interests at heart.
The biometric steering wheel and spokes have metal sensors that measure heart rate; they work the same as heart rate sensors on gym treadmills and stair-climbers. An infrared sensor in the wheel measures the temperature from the driver’s hands and face. A downward-facing sensor under the steering column measures cabin temperature for comparison to the driver’s temperature. A pie oelectric sensor in the seat belt measures breathing rate. No urinalysis. Yet.
Ford adapts traffic sensors already available on current vehicles to track traffic. The front-facing camera used for lane departure warning/lane keep assist measures traffic density ahead. (Adaptive cruise control radar on higher-end models could do that, too.) The side-facing blind spot detection sonar (Blind Spot Information System, or BLIS, in Ford terminology) show traffic on either side.
A third sensor group is the car’s controls: throttle position, brakes, steering wheel angle, speed, acceleration, lateral acceleration (going around a corner, changing lanes), even yaw rate (turning or, worst case, spinning).
Put all three together -– driver sensors, traffic sensors, vehicle info –- and the driver workload estimator figures out whether connected devices should be muted or disabled temporarily. If the biometric sensors show the driver is relatively calm in the face of heavy traffic, there’d be a higher threshold for device deactivation. Ford didn’t talk about future directions, but imagine if your car had navigation, real-time traffic (that was accurate and up-to-date), and long-term recall of conditions on the same road yesterday and the previous day. It would know as soon as you put your blinker on that you were about to merge onto a crowded freeway. Or something as simple as crossing a busy residential road where the neighbors’ bushes make it hard to see. Not only would it mute phone and text, but it might also lower the radio volume if that’s distracting.
The driver workload estimator and Do Not Disturb feature exist only in Ford research labs for now. The sensor-equipped seats and steering wheels are research tools, too. The traffic sensors exist now for adaptive cruise control, lane keep assist, and blind spot detection; they also form the core of Ford’s pending Traffic Jam Assist project that would make cars self-driving at low speeds.
Ford already has a related Do Not Disturb feature that parents can select via MyKey, a programmable key for younger drivers. It can block calls and texts while the car is moving; limit top speeds to 65, 70, 75 or 80 mph; limit the top volume of the radio; disable the traction-control-off button; and mute the audio system if front seat occupants aren’t buckled up (“no belts, no tunes”). Unlike Ford’s latest research, the MyKey project is already in place and the settings don’t vary with road conditions. If MyKey is set to block phone calls, they’re blocked whether the driver is on a lightly traveled road or a busy multi-lane street.
What are the benefits of a technology such as the driver workload estimator beyond keeping you safer? It shows that private industry has solutions that are different and more flexible than what the government has in mind (“turn it off, now”). At a time when cars are more alike in performance, fuel economy and even looks, this is a differentiator that could sell Fords, just as Ford Sync (iPod adapter, Bluetooth, voice input) pumped up sales of the mediocre last-generation Ford Focus from 2008-2011. It will force GM and Toyota to do something similar, or better. It might also lead to industry sharing. Automakers at times have agreed to share or freely license (if not license for free) a lifesaving technology that belongs on all vehicles. The bottom line is that stupid drivers will have to work ever harder to be part of Darwinian theory.
Ford smart car locks your phone when you’re stressed or distracted
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