Medical-Sensing Technology Could Make Driving Safer

Integrating advanced medical technology in automobiles could help reduce human-error-related accidents and are a commercially feasible extra for high-end models, industry experts say.

European Union-funded researchers have developed a driver’s seat and seatbelt from so-called smart textiles that measure heart and breathing rates through embedded sensors to detect if a driver is showing signs of fatigue behind the wheel. Heart rate is a strong indicator of alertness and concentration, while slow, deep breathing indicates a relaxed or resting state.

The project, called HARKEN, is a consortium of several European research institutions, businesses and manufacturers, including the U.K.’s University of Manchester and the Instituto de Biomecánica de Valencia, in Spain; and businesses including project coordinator and textile developer Borgstena Group Portugal, Portugal-based biosensor manufacturer PLUX; and German seatbelt-webbing producer ALATEX.

These groups collaborated to develop a fiber with electrical properties that could be used to create smart sensing materials, which then could be incorporated into car seats and along the seatbelt to monitor a motorist’s state of wakefulness.

Driver fatigue accounts for up to 35% of serious accidents in the EU each year, which translates to more than 7,000 fatigue-related collision fatalities annually across the region, according to the EU’s eSafety Forum. The economic damage caused by road accidents in the EU is estimated by the forum at between €10 billion ($11.2 billion) and €14 billion ($15.6 billion).

“The goal of the project was to develop something that could be used in a non-intrusive way and integrate it into car components so the driver could be monitored without having to wear anything,” Miguel Ridao, CEO of Sensing Tex SL, a specialist technology company based in Barcelona, Spain, that is developing the sensors and smart material for the project.

While the 2-year, €1 million ($1.2 million) project ended in May 2014, Ridao says the consortium still is working on prototypes and will have road-ready products available in two or three years. Ridao hopes to see this kind of technological device mandatory in every European vehicle sometime in the near future.

“It is a practical solution for fatigued drivers,” says David Bailey, a professor of industrial strategy at Aston University in Birmingham, U.K. “It would be helpful in terms of avoiding accidents and injuries from people falling asleep while driving long distances.”

Since the beta testing is not yet complete, price estimations for a final product are not available. But Bailey predicts that if the technology became mandated as a safety feature, consumers should expect vehicle prices to go up.

“One of the reasons cars have become so expensive in the last few years is to meet road and emission requirements and safety standards,” he says. “Any time you add in safety features, the cost of developing cars goes up. As a result, these types of things start at the upper end of the vehicle spectrum because the technology is very expensive to begin with, then with more efficiency and better technology over time, costs come down.”

Peter Cooke, a professor emeritus of automotive management at the University of Buckingham, also in the U.K., agrees, saying while this is an opportunity to increase market prices, safety still sells.

“It is a legitimate technology and people will ultimately accept it. It’s just a matter of starting somewhere and slowly introducing it. I don’t know who will adopt it first, but eventually it will become a habit we don’t even think about, just like seatbelts,” he says.

However, Cooke notes: “There’s also the question of whether it will be replaced in a few years by someone who says ‘I can do better than that.’ There are always a plethora of technological offerings in every new generation of vehicle, but which one of those will be enough to differentiate products?”

Wearables, Smartphones Challenge Embedded Sensors 

Indeed, HARKEN is not the only effort to develop embedded medical-sensing systems in automobiles. In 2011, Toyota began working on a steering wheel fitted with electrocardiogram sensors that could measure heart rates when a driver gripped it.

Ford launched a similar venture the same year, but announced in May it was dropping the project. One of the reasons, the automaker says, was due to the development of less-costly, more precise wearable monitoring technology already on the market, such as the Apple Watch, and smartphone applications.

Wearable technology and smartphone applications that monitor health quickly have become the biggest foe of projects such as HARKEN, with critics questioning whether non-intrusive medical sensing systems in cars are even necessary. They point to the quick extinction of car phones when the mobile cell phone gained in popularity.

In response to this, Ridao says: “Wearable technology is just that – you need to wear it. Having the technology in a car makes it so easy; you just do what you normally do, and sit and drive.”

But companies like Ford have shifted their focus anyway. Ford now is working on perfecting its Sync technology, which allows drivers and passengers to connect their smartphones to the car via Bluetooth and control apps through built-in touchscreens. A spokesperson says, Medtronic, WellDoc and IMS Health have worked with the automaker’s research team to connect health-related apps to the car’s computer.

In addition, Ford in June revealed a partnership with Toyota to develop a more user-friendly SmartDeviceLink technology, a platform to integrate smartphone applications in future vehicles that can be accessible through voice recognition.

Nonetheless, Bailey says he still believes an innovation such as HARKEN is valuable. “It could be useful – really, all you have to do is sit in the car and let it go to work. I think something like the HARKEN project is practical and I can see it being developed fully, despite smartphones being increasing integrated into cars. It comes down to whether people would rather the car itself be a monitor, versus being able to use your smartphone in your car.”