A new system monitors ethanol alcohol levels of a vehicle operator by collecting sweat from the operator's hands, and detecting the presence, if any, of ethanol in the sweat. The system can then be used, if ethanol is present, to take action, such as immobile vehicle disablement, in the event of intoxication caused by an impermissibly high levels of ethanol of the operator. The system includes devices, referred to as pods in the description, which are sweat-collecting devices that are attached to the steering wheel of the vehicle. If the measurable ethanol in collected moisture from the operator's hands exceeds a preset threshold, the system could be configured to warn the operator to park the vehicle thereafter to disable operation of the vehicle, but if the operator does not so discontinue operation of the vehicle hazard warning lights and audible warnings within and without the vehicle will be activated alerting near vehicles of a dangerous vehicle being operated in close proximity. Likewise the new system monitors for pulse rate and oxygen levels of the operator can be used to recommend operator action when the pulse rate and/or oxygen levels are outside of the normal range for an operator. When the pulse rate and or oxygen levels of the system are outside of the normal parameters for an operator, the system will warn the operator to park the vehicle and thereafter to disable operation of the immobile vehicle, but if the operator does not so discontinue operation of the vehicle the hazard warning lights, on board video, and audible warnings within and without the vehicle will be activated alerting near vehicles of a dangerous vehicle being operated in close proximity, and alarms will be sent to real time recording and monitoring devices.

Provided is a driver assistance system including an internal camera installed in a vehicle to detect whether a driver is in a drowsy driving, and configured to photograph a state of eyes of the driver to acquire drowsiness data, a first sensor installed in the vehicle to have a front-side view of the vehicle, and configured to acquire first sensor data to detect an object in the front-side view, a second sensor installed in the vehicle to have a rear-side view of the vehicle and configured to acquire second sensor data to detect an object in the rear-side view, and a controller including at least one processor configured to process the drowsiness data, the first sensor data, and the second sensor data, wherein the controller is configured to: if a result of processing the drowsiness data is that the driver has closed the driver's eyes for a predetermined time or longer, transmit a control signal to at least one of a braking device or a steering device to perform a lane change for stopping the vehicle based on a result of processing the first sensor data and the second sensor data.

A driver assessment system includes at least one vehicle sensor on a vehicle gathering vehicle dynamics information. At least one occupant sensor gathers driver information. The at least one occupant sensor may be a wearable device or subdermal device on the driver. At least one computer receives the vehicle dynamics information and the driver information to determine a driver readiness.

Signals are received from a plurality of sources, representing operating characteristics of a vehicle and an environment surrounding the vehicle. A plurality of operational factors are developed based on the signals. The vehicle is controlled according to one of at least three levels of control, including an autonomous, a semi-autonomous, and a manual level of control, based on the operational factors.

Driving support ECU determines that a driver is in an abnormal state when a state where a steering amount correlation value which changes when a steering wheel SW of a vehicle is operated does not change continues over more than or equal to an abnormality determination threshold time. When the driver is determined to be in the abnormal state, the ECU decelerates the vehicle, makes a hazard lamp blink and invalidates an acceleration request based on a change in an operation amount of an accelerator pedal. The ECU terminates decelerating of the vehicle and permits the acceleration override when a specific driving operation (an operation that the accelerator pedal changes from an operating state to a non-operating state and then again changes to the operating state within a predetermined threshold time) is determined to have occurred after the driver has been determined to be in the abnormal state.

An interaction system for a vehicle includes a human machine interface controller coupled to a plurality of interface components that communicate information to a driver of the vehicle. The interaction system also includes a situational awareness module coupled to the human machine interface controller. The situational awareness module is configured to monitor driver and vehicle conditions, generate a comprehensive driving conditions status, and communicate the comprehensive driving conditions status to the human machine interface controller using a specified protocol.

Provided is a vehicle stop support system for supporting vehicle stop in an emergency condition. The vehicle stop support system detects a physical abnormality of a driver; sets a stop point; and controls a vehicle to travel to the stop point and stop at the stop point. The system is operable to: calculate, with respect to each of a plurality of stop point candidates, a first index value which increases with an increase in a lateral acceleration, a second index value which increases with an increase in rear-end collision risk, a third index value based on the detected abnormality, and a gross index value, wherein the gross index value is obtained by subjecting the first, second, and third index values to weighting, and summing the resulting weighted index values; and then set one of candidates which is smallest in terms of the gross index value, as the stop point.

An autonomous driving control system and a method thereof are provided. The autonomous driving control system includes a strategy performing device that generates and performs a stop strategy of a vehicle on the basis of a target stop location, when a critical situation occurs during autonomous driving, a behavior controller that controls a behavior of the vehicle depending on the stop strategy, and an emergency module controller that runs a predetermined emergency module, when the critical situation occurs.

System, methods, and other embodiments described herein relate to improving driver warnings for automated driving by a vehicle. In one embodiment, a method includes monitoring a vehicle control system for driver feedback during the automated driving. The method also includes adapting a points value at a defined rate according to whether the driver feedback is present. The method also includes, responsive to determining that the points value satisfies a threshold before the driver feedback is present, generating a warning to a driver.

A vehicle control device has a processor configured to determine whether or not a problem exists with the level of active operation by the driver and when there is a problem with the driver, to set a stopping location for the vehicle on a traveling lane and to determine whether or not another traffic lane is adjacent on the side of the stopping location opposite from a passing lane and, when another traffic lane is adjacent, to determine whether or not the stopping location is within a stop avoidance area set in the traveling lane, based on an adjacent start location or an adjacent end location and, when the stopping location is within the stop avoidance area, to generate a stopping plan for stopping of the vehicle at a location between the adjacent start location and the adjacent end location other than in the stop avoidance area.