Towards Real-Time, Nonintrusive Estimation of Driver Workload in a Simulated Environment

The aim of this research is to work towards building an open-source, platform-independent algorithm capable of predicting driver workload in real-time and in a non-intrusive way. To work towards a system that can also be implemented in on-road settings, we aimed at using off-the-shelf, non-intrusive sensors that could be implemented into the steering wheel and dashboard of current and future generations of cars, making them non-intrusive. In order to build the initial predictive model, a driving simulator experiment was performed. Nineteen participants were required to drive a virtual replication of the Dutch A67 C-ITS corridor between Eindhoven and Venlo. We attempted to induce driver workload by varying weather, traffic composition, traffic density and by asking participants to perform various manoeuvres such as lane changing, merging and exiting. We measured heart rate, skin response, blink and performance measures. Results show that within individuals and within the experimental group, workload was predictable with a high correct rate in both individual models as well as group models. We also evaluated how well the models would generalise when used outside of the experimental setting. Preliminary results for this generalisation are poor. We discuss possible reasons for this and next steps we are planning to take to increase this performance.