With thousands of accidents caused every year by tired drivers, Ford is aiming for its new driver alert safety system to be a life-saver.

Ford’s driver alert uses technology and algorithms to analyse driver performance and issues a warning if the driver shows signs of drowsiness or erratic steering.

“Driver fatigue is a serious problem and one that can affect anyone,” said Ford engineer Margareta Nieh, who helped develop the driver alert. “When drivers become drowsy they tend to drift off line as they lose concentration and then make sudden corrective steering inputs. What we’ve developed is a driver alert system that picks up on these erratic driving movements by detecting sideways yaw.”

The driver alert system comprises a small forward-facing camera connected to an on-board computer. The camera is mounted on the back of the rear-view mirror and is trained to identify lane markings on both sides of the vehicle.

When the vehicle is on the move, the computer looks at the road ahead and predicts where the car should be positioned relative to the lane markings. It then measures where the vehicle actually is and if the difference is significant, the system issues a warning.

Driver Alert is available as part of the optional driver assistance pack offered on Ford Mondeo, S-MAX and Galaxy models and was most recently introduced on the all-new Ford Focus. The optional driver assistance pack for the Focus costs £750 and also contains active city stop, lane departure warning and lane keeping aid, traffic sign recognition, auto high beam and blind spot information system (BLIS). .
 

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