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thelostone
11-11-2011, 12:04 PM
In the early 1900's, Birmigham's Oliver Lucas developed a steering wheel fitted with an electric car horn that quickly became an industry standard. For many years the horn remained the only button found on vehicle steering wheels, but nowadays they are covered with a multitude of buttons for controlling everything from the vehicle's sound and climate control systems to on board computer functions and a connected smartphone. Researchers from Germany's Technische Universitaet Muenchen, working in collaboration with BMW, have now extended the function of the humble steering wheel even further with the development of a sensor system integrated into the steering wheel that can give the driver a quick health check while driving.
While a variety of systems for monitoring vital signs of drivers have already been developed as part of studies to measure things such as stress levels while driving, these often see the driver wired up so are not suitable for inclusion in mass produced passenger vehicles. By integrating the appropriate sensors into the steering wheel, the system developed at TUM allows data to be collected unobtrusively. The collected data is then radioed to a microcontroller, which can then relay the measurement results to the vehicle's information display.
The system uses two commercially available sensors to measure whether the driver is under severe stress, or whether their blood pressure is too high. The first shines an infrared light into the fingers and measures the heart rate and oxygen saturation via reflected light, while the second measures the electric conductance of the skin at contact. Both sensors require the driver's hands to be in contact with the steering wheel to collect their data - something that's recommended when operating a vehicle anyway.
The researchers carried out initial tests with subjects from the Munich Senior Citizens Advisory Council and saw data provided during four fifths of driving time. More than half the test subjects reportedly felt encouraged to have repeated check ups after using the system. But the researchers say the applications for the system go beyond simple vital sign monitoring.
"Our vision is to get the vehicle to detect when the driver is no longer feeling well and to the initiate appropriate measures," says Professor Lueth, who led the research. "When a stress situation is detected by means of skin conductance values, phone calls can be blocked, for instance, or the volume of the radio turned down automatically. With more serious problems the system could turn on the hazard warning lights, reduce the speed or even induce automated emergency braking."

Diablo13
11-11-2011, 11:53 PM
That sounds like great future technology which would be especially useful in large vehicles like buses and lorries to prevent accidents.

It would of course be good in a car as well, though sweaty palms, elevated heart rate and high blood pressure, could just mean you had Gillian Taylforth as your passenger, giving you her speciallity blow job! pmsl