Mercedes-Benz will become industry leaders in the battle against driver tiredness next year when it initiates a massive campaign to fit all its cars with technology to detect the onset of drowsiness.

The ground-breaking system will debut on next year’s new E-Class and will then be spread throughout its range over the next two to three years, providing fleet managers with a vital tool to help make their drivers safer.

Called Attention Assist, it uses highly-sensitive sensors to detect patterns in steering wheel and vehicle movement that are outside the usual style of the driver. In hundreds of tests, engineers have discovered the sudden corrections made by all drivers getting increasingly drowsy are remarkably similar, and increase in magnitude the more tired they become.

By building up a picture of a driver’s style in the first 20 to 30 minutes of a journey, it can ‘personalise’ that drowsy behaviour and issue a warning light and signal. While building up that picture, the system uses a standard set of parameters.

Attention Assist can also detect distraction, another killer of road users, because it picks up changes in normal driving patterns.

Theoretically, engineers say it would also identify those driving under the influence of alcohol, although Mercedes-Benz is understandably wary of committing research on this, no doubt fearing drivers might misunderstand the system and use it to ascertain their fitness to drive after drinking.

But the welcome news for fleet managers and drivers is that the system will be fitted as standard to all Mercedes-Benz cars.

The firm believes that as a cost option take-up would be very low, so have taken this proactive step.

Despite drivers wanting safer cars, choosing optional safety equipment always comes low on the shopping list.

Some systems offered by other manufacturers, including Lexus, use a camera and infra-red to study a driver’s face, and in particular, eyes.

Mercedes-Benz believes those systems are flawed because drivers with glasses tend to confuse them so the warning comes way too late when the driver has already closed his or her eyes, and the cost is prohibitive for a roll-out across a significant number of vehicles.

Studies carried out by Mercedes-Benz’s Accident Research arm, which investigates hundreds of crashes every year, found that while 20% of driving is done at night, 40% of fatalities occur then.

Research from road safety charity Brake suggests that about 300 people are killed each year as a result of drivers falling asleep at the wheel.

And the severity of crashes involving drivers who have fallen asleep tend to be very high.

Brake added: “Crashes caused by drivers falling asleep at the wheel typically involve vehicles running off the road or into the back of another vehicle.

They tend to be relatively high-speed crashes because drivers do not brake before crashing, so the risk of death or serious injury occurring is greater than in other types of crashes.”

However, road safety experts warn that such systems should not take the place of good business practice, or be used as a tool for allowing drivers to do excessive miles.