The dangers of falling asleep while driving may soon become a thing of the past with the development of car seats that can detect when a driver is beginning to nod off.
Researchers at Nottingham Trent University in the UK are ready to begin how to embed an electrocardiogram sensor system into the fabric of car seats.
The sensor system can be used to detect heart signals that indicate a driver is beginning to lose alertness and then trigger a warning to pull over.
Should the driver choose to ignore the alerts, active cruise control or lane departure technology could be deployed to gently guide the vehicle.
The information could also be sent over a wireless network to a control centre to take further action.
Professor Tilak Dias and William Hurley of the university's advanced textile research group will collaborate with semiconductor company Plessey on the study.
Professor Dias said: "The requirement now is to improve the reliability of the data.
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