Brainwave monitoring: Hyundai earbuds increase your attention
Hyundai Mobis is researching headphones that are supposed to increase your attention while driving. How does "M.Brain" work?
Hyundai Mobis wants to provide more safety on the road with smart earbuds. The world's first brainwave technology for driving safety, "M.Brain," is designed to increase alertness, reduce drowsiness and prevent microsleep.
Driver monitoring with earplugs instead of cameras
Cars equipped with autonomous driving systems or advanced assistance systems often offer driver monitoring. This is intended to prevent attention from drifting away, especially when the vehicle takes over control in certain situations.
In Teslas with FSD or GM models with Ultra Cruise, for example, sensors monitor the driver's pupils or his grip on the steering wheel via a cockpit camera. If the driver's gaze deviates from the road or his hands remain off the steering wheel for too long, warning signals sound.
In the future, Hyundai Mobis plans to monitor the driver based on his brain waves.
Hyundai: Brainwave measurement for attention control
M.Brain is a brainwave technology designed to monitor the attention of its wearers in real time and reduce fatigue or loss of concentration. To accomplish this, the devices monitor brain waves around the ears.
A companion app displays the readings on the smartphone and categorizes the condition into three levels: Blue, Green and Red. If it detects your lack of attention (level red), the earbuds send haptic, visual and acoustic signals through other devices such as your smartphone.
As part of a pilot project, M.Brain was used for over a year by public bus drivers in Gyeonggi-do, Korea. According to Hyundai Mobis, the "driver monitoring system" has increased users' ability to concentrate and pay attention.
Earplugs reduce fatigue
The researchers found that the earplugs reduced sleepiness by 30 percent after meals and by up to 20 percent during long highway trips. The time required to become awake again is to be reduced threefold by M.Brain. The driver should be awake again within 2.3 seconds instead of 6.7 seconds.
Hyundai Mobis claims to have gained important data on the dependence of brain waves and the health status of the wearers from the pilot project. For further tests, the company plans to equip a total of 300 buses with M.Brain by the end of the year. In the future, the analysis process will be accelerated with the help of Deep Learning.
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