Triboelectric nanogenerator based self-powered sensor with a turnable sector structure for monitoring driving behavior

Abstract During a journey, a driver’s aggressive behavior may greatly increase the occurrence of traffic accidents and even lead to major traffic accidents. Here, we use a sector-shaped triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) to collect the opening and closing information of the accelerator and brake pedals, and fabricate a TENG with symmetrical double turnable structure (DT-TENG) to detect the steering angle of car steering wheel. The DT-TENG with excellent sensitivity only needs two channels to collect signals, and the output voltage is up to 10 V. The driver’s driving behavior is divided into safe driving behavior and aggressive driving behavior based on the information collected by TENG, then the results are fed back to the driver so that they can analyze and correct their driving habits. These two types of TENGs collect voltage signals through the driver's actions, which not only will not infringe on the driver's privacy, but also have higher monitoring accuracy and are less likely to be deceived, demonstrating the feasibility of a self-powered sensor based on TENG with high-sensitivity in intelligent transportation systems.