The described systems and methods determine a driver's fitness to safely operate a moving vehicle based at least in part upon observed UVB exposure patterns, where the driver's UVB exposure levels may serve as a proxy for vitamin D levels in that driver's body. A smart ring, wearable on a user's finger, continuously monitors user's exposure to UVB light. This UVB exposure data, representing UVB exposure patterns, can be utilized, in combination with driving data, to train a machine learning model, which will predict the user's level of risk exposure based at least in part upon observed UVB exposure patterns. The user can be warned of this risk to prevent them from driving or to encourage them to get more sunlight exposure before driving. In some instances, the disclosed smart ring system may interact with the user's vehicle to prevent it from starting while exposed to high risk due to deteriorated psychological or physiological conditions stemming from insufficient UVB exposure.

The described systems and methods determine a driver's fitness to safely operate a moving vehicle based at least in part upon observed impairment patterns. A smart ring, wearable on a user's finger, continuously monitors impairment levels. This impairment data, representing impairment patterns, can be utilized, in combination with driving data, to train a machine learning model, which will predict the user's level of risk exposure based at least in part upon observed impairment patterns. The user can be warned of this risk to prevent them from driving or to encourage them to delay driving. In some instances, the disclosed smart ring system may interact with the user's vehicle to prevent it from starting while the user is in a state of impairment induced by substance intoxication.

The vehicle controller includes a processor configured to determine whether a behavior of a driver of the vehicle satisfies a predetermined enabling condition after execution of a function of automatically stopping the vehicle. The function is executed due to not satisfying a driver-related condition for continuing the automated driving control of the vehicle. The enabling condition relates to driving control of the vehicle and is not imposed before the execution of the function. The processor is further configured to perform the automated driving control of the vehicle only when the behavior of the driver satisfies the enabling condition.

A car seat includes an actuator capable of changing an orientation of a rest surface of a seat back laterally by turning and moving at least a side portion frame that is part of the car seat frontward and rearward, and a controller configured to exercise control over the actuator. The controller includes a run-time posture support unit configured to execute a run-time posture support control under which when a car makes a turn, the actuator is regulated to cause the rest surface of the seat back to be oriented in a direction of the turn. The run-time posture support unit is configured to regulate the actuator in accordance with a placement of the seat in the car, when the run-time posture support unit executes the run-time posture support control.

Apparatuses, machine-readable media, and methods related to vehicle occupant emergency monitoring are described. Information regarding a medical condition of person can be used when the person is driving a vehicle according to embodiments of the present invention. Computing devices (e.g., mobile devices and/or modules having a computing device) can be configured to run an application (e.g., a vehicle occupant emergency monitoring tool) to determine whether a occupant of the vehicle is unable to continue driving the vehicle. The vehicle occupant emergency monitoring tool can receive information regarding a medical condition of the occupant, determine that the occupant is experiencing a medical emergency and that occupant can no longer safely drive the vehicle, and initiate a response to the medical emergency by providing instructions to drive the vehicle to a medical facility and/or disable the vehicle while signaling emergency services (e.g., police and/or ambulance services) for help.

A method and a device for driver state evaluation are provided. In a detection step, in a sensor-aided manner, a driver's viewing direction in a field of view defined relative to the vehicle is detected and a solid angle oriented to the viewing direction is determined depending on at least one parameter that influences the field of view. In an evaluation step, at least one object point of the three-dimensional surroundings of the driver is evaluated on the basis of the latter's position with respect to the solid angle determined and an attentiveness-related driver state is ascertained depending on this evaluation and is output.

Systems and methods are disclosed. A digitized human vocal expression of a user and digital images are received over a network from a remote device. The digitized human vocal expression is processed to determine characteristics of the human vocal expression, including: pitch, volume, rapidity, a magnitude spectrum identify, and/or pauses in speech. Digital images are received and processed to detect characteristics of the user face, including detecting if any of the following is present: a sagging lip, a crooked smile, uneven eyebrows, and/or facial droop. Using the human vocal expression characteristics and face characteristics, a determination is made as to what action is to be taken. A cepstrum pitch may be determined using an inverse Fourier transform of a logarithm of a spectrum of a human vocal expression signal. The volume may be determined using peak heights in a power spectrum of the human vocal expression.

Disclosure related to a system for detecting and reducing false calls from nearby objects in self-driving vehicles. Further, the system comprising at least one camera device having at least two lenses attached on an outside of a self-driving vehicle. The camera device configured to capture images of nearby objects, one or more sensors selected from the group consisting of a LIDAR, a SONAR, a gyroscope and an accelerometer coupled to the at least one camera device. A communication unit for communicating image data along with sensor data to a processing unit. The processing unit receives data from the camera device and the one or more sensors, and detect a true presence of an object and a true direction of the object. One lens of the camera device confirms an image captured by the other lens of the camera device through a deep learning based image data filtering technique.

Techniques are described for cognitive analysis for directed control transfer for autonomous vehicles. In-vehicle sensors are used to collect cognitive state data for an individual within a vehicle which has an autonomous mode of operation. The cognitive state data includes infrared, facial, audio, or biosensor data. One or more processors analyze the cognitive state data collected from the individual to produce cognitive state information. The cognitive state information includes a subset or summary of cognitive state data, or an analysis of the cognitive state data. The individual is scored based on the cognitive state information to produce a cognitive scoring metric. A state of operation is determined for the vehicle. A condition of the individual is evaluated based on the cognitive scoring metric. Control is transferred between the vehicle and the individual based on the state of operation of the vehicle and the condition of the individual.

A method is disclosed for driving an emergency reaction system within a moving motor vehicle carrying at least one vehicle occupant. The method includes monitoring health conditions of the vehicle occupant. The method also includes determining whether the health conditions are below a critical threshold and, if so, continuing to monitor the health conditions of the vehicle occupant. If the health conditions exceed the critical threshold, an emergency alert is issued without waiting for the motor vehicle to stop, and an autonomous safe stop maneuver is performed if the motor vehicle is moving autonomously or includes an autonomous driving system and is allowed to operate automatically.