A novel method to monitor driver's distractions

Many attempts were made in the past to monitor a driver's visual and cognitive distractions. Yet, most of the techniques did not become a practical application due to their contact-based nature of monitoring. In this paper, we describe research that aims to monitor the driver's distractions from a distance. The proposed method is based on the thermal signature of the face. The method measures human physiology in a contact-free manner and therefore, is suitable for continuous monitoring. We conducted two experiments to analyze the validity of our method. Experiment-1 focused on driver's cognitive distraction by allowing cell phone talking while driving. Experiment-2 focused on driver's visual distraction by allowing texting while driving. The experimental results from 11 participants illustrate that the facial physiology alters in a measurable amount in both kinds of distraction. The proposed method quantifies this physiological change and detects periods of distractions. Ultimately, this information can be utilized to alert the drivers in real time. Participants' performance analysis confirms validity of the proposed method.