Driver Monitoring Systems
What is a Driver Monitoring System?
A driver-monitoring system — sometimes called a driver state sensing (DSS) system — is an advanced safety feature that uses a camera mounted on the dashboard to track driver drowsiness or distraction and to issue a warning or alert to get the driver’s attention back to the task of driving.
Driver-monitoring systems (DMS) are expected to become a standard feature in new cars as a result of regulatory and rating agency requirements. For example, the European Union has mandated DMS for inclusion in all new vehicle models starting in 2024, and the European New Car Assessment Program (Euro NCAP) currently grants a vehicle point toward a 5-star rating for including DMS.
Driver monitoring systems (DMS) are fast becoming the leading automotive safety system in the world. In the United States, the rapid growth of Level 2 driving assistance systems such as General Motors’ Super Cruise and Ford’s BlueCruise are quickly expediting and greatly expanding DMS usage.
Driver monitoring systems use strategically placed cameras to ensure that the driver is paying attention to the road, awake and alert. The system is integrated into the vehicle and can be programmed according to a series of escalating actions, starting with a driver alert or warning and progressing to slowing or stopping the car if the driver is no longer able to operate the vehicle.
Across the globe, DMS will become a standard safety feature as soon as 2023. Provisions in the U.S. bipartisan infrastructure bill will require the Department of Transportation to begin making rules to stop distracted and drunk driving as well as update the U.S. New Car Assessment Program (NCAP). European standards, at first, will apply to distracted and drowsy driving. Eventually, Europe will require the systems to detect impairment to include alcohol and drugs.
These technologies can’t come soon enough. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, distracted driving caused over 3,000 deaths in 2019, an increase of 10% from 2018. Drunken driving has increased, too. In 2019, 10,142 people died in drunken driving crashes. Early estimates from 2020 point to a 9% increase in DUI deaths. While many expected traffic deaths to decline during the pandemic, the opposite occurred.
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The good news is that DMS is road-ready technology, already in use today. Every major OEM in the U.S. has plans to implement DMS soon. General Motors just announced its next-generation system, UltraCruise, which uses DMS to ensure motorists can drive when needed. According to GM, this Level 2 system will allow for hands-free driving in 95% of all driving situations. The current system, Super Cruise, is already being expanded across more vehicle models.
Worldwide, carmakers are also expected to rapidly increase the use of DMS in response to the growing demand for driver assist systems and government regulations. A recent study reported that advanced emergency braking systems alone could reduce crashes in light vehicles by 33%. These figures are impossible to ignore. To place that in context, traffic deaths fell 29% in the 39 years between 1980 and 2019.
If we were to apply a conservative effectiveness rate of 30% and assume high levels of DMS penetration in the vehicle fleet to address distraction, drowsiness, and intoxication in 2019, it is reasonable to estimate that up to 4,200 fatalities and 315,000 injuries could have been prevented. Even if we reduce the effective rate to 10% and allow for a ramp-up to high levels of DMS penetration over several years, there remains a dramatic improvement to the prevention of road trauma.
Advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) are often mentioned as key technological vehicle safety improvements. ADAS includes things like automatic emergency braking, lane departure warnings, blind-spot detection, and other types of crash-prevention technologies. However, these technologies work best when combined with DMS.
Driver Monitoring Systems
