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Ford Wants to Tackle Driver Fatigue With Light Glasses You’d Have to Wear All the Time

While systems supposed to detect driver fatigue have been around for a while, Ford is working on new technology that would push this concept to a completely new level.
Ford invents new system to deal with driver fatigue 74 photos
Photo: Ford
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A patent called “method for preventing fatigue of a driver of a motor vehicle” describes a new Ford idea that’s not necessarily supposed to detect when the person behind the wheel is tired but to actually reduce the likelihood of drowsiness.

To do this, the American carmaker has come up with so-called light glasses that drivers would have to wear both outside and inside the car. The glasses would have a very important role: to always adjust the amount of light that reaches the eyes of the person wearing them, therefore reducing the level of fatigue they could eventually feel.

Ford explains that one way to do this is with sensors that permanently monitor the location of the driver. When the wearer is outside the car, the light glass can calculate the available light and then ensure that the optimum amount is generated.

This way, the patent says, the glasses can counteract the tiredness, especially in the case of drivers who begin to work early in the morning.

The glasses control the amount of blue light that is available when the driver is outside the vehicle. Once they step in, the light glasses are automatically turned off, not only to reduce the impact on battery life but also to avoid impacting road safety. Instead, the new technology would enable ambient lighting that is installed in the cabin, once again with the goal of ensuring that driver fatigue is reduced.

Ford says that heavy optimizations are mandatory on such a piece of technology. This is because making sure that the light glasses must work only when they are required, especially during daytime. The glasses will, therefore, measure the available light continuously, with a battery-saving mode allowing the device to enter a stand-by mode that would reduce power consumption.

It’s not difficult to figure out what is the main shortcoming of such a concept. While a device that would help reduce the drowsiness would come in handy, especially for people who work in shifts and could feel tired during the daytime, wearing the glasses all the time isn’t necessarily something that many drivers would be willing to do anyway. On the other hand, the ambient lighting system installed in the cabin could come in handy to reduce driving fatigue, though such ideas aren’t necessarily new and have already been around for quite some time.

For now, Ford’s idea is still in the patent stage, and as such, there’s no guarantee that it would ever make its way to mass-produced vehicles, especially as the technology needs more refinements in terms of overall convenience.
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About the author: Bogdan Popa
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Bogdan keeps an eye on how technology is taking over the car world. His long-term goals are buying an 18-wheeler because he needs more space for his kid’s toys, and convincing Google and Apple that Android Auto and CarPlay deserve at least as much attention as their phones.
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