Taking Aim at the Drowsy-driver Threat

Hyundai Mobis is leveraging SAE Level 4 autonomy tech to move ‘departed’ drivers safely off the road.

March 1, 2018

Ian Adcock

DDREM “rescue” scenario. Most situations where DDREM is active would involve the vehicle taking over for less than one mile. (Image: HYUNDAI MOBIS)

Semi-autonomous technology designed to significantly reduce the 7000 annual fatalities in the U.S. attributed to driver drowsiness has been developed by Hyundai Mobis North America. A “low-cost” production system is being readied for 2022.

“By narrowing our focus to the safety aspects of autonomy, we can quickly bring life-saving [SAE] Level 4 into passenger cars,” said David Agnew, Director of Autonomous Vehicle Development.

“Everyone talks about autonomous Level 4 where you don’t de- pend on the driver to take over; what we’re doing is using autonomous just for safety,” Agnew told Automotive Engineering. He claimed that current driver-alert systems “just detect and then give a warning” which is often ignored.

“People don’t perceive themselves as being on the cliff-edge between being alert or drowsy; they want to reach their destination,” he opined. The new Hyundai Mobis system takes over the driving to safely move the vehicle out of traffic, slowly bringing it to a halt before transmitting an emergency call.

The system, known internally as DDREM (Departed Driver Rescue & Exit Maneuver), is now undergoing road testing in prototype vehicles. It employs standard brakes, stability control and electronic power steering. There’s a production long-range radar, a forward-looking monocular camera and short-range radars, with modified software. Mobis engineers are not using lidar or redundant systems.

Monitoring the driver are three interfused sensor systems. An infrared camera focuses on the driver’s face to observe eye closing and which direction the face is looking. Fused into this are control inputs from the steering wheel and pedals. The third set of inputs detects vehicle wandering.

“We take it to almost a point of no return and then retake control of the vehicle,” Agnew explained. “Ultimately, we end up with a low-cost, low-tech Level 4 system that is a highly-effective solution for ‘departed’ drivers.”

He said much of the research done to date is based on data from industries such as mining, where huma drowsiness-detection is vital to worker safety. While the Mobis system currently does not employ physiological sensors such as heart rate, body temperature and brain function, these are being investigated for future development.

Agnew claimed that for vehicles already equipped with ADAS, the Hyundai Mobis system would represent a “low-cost” investment for OEMs. The implementation of the DDREM technology could save up to 85% of the drowsy-driver-related fatalities per year, he said.

“We are now trying to get into production as soon as we can, not necessarily with Hyundai or Kia,” he added.