Ford’s High-Tech Cap Keeps Lid on Driver Drowsiness

Ford creates a wearable safety device: a cap designed to prevent drivers from falling asleep at the wheel.

The Ford SafeCap is the result of a collaboration between the automaker and the Sao Paolo, Brazil, office of advertising agency GTB.

SafeCap is equipped with sensors that follow drivers’ head movements – particularly relaxation of neck muscles – that detect when a driver is becoming drowsy or has fallen asleep. The sensors cause the cap to vibrate and also generate sound and light.

The cap was introduced in October at an international truck fair in Sao Paolo as part of Ford’s observation of its 60^th year of truck production in Brazil.

Safe Cap still is in the prototype phase but has been refined more than 30 times. The automaker hopes to “attract the interest and partnerships needed to help make the tech scalable and thus available to drivers around the world within the next 12 months,” a Ford spokeswoman says.

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