Car manufacturers are making their products smarter every day, and some new innovations focus on driver alertness and human machine interactions. A French car part manufacturer has designed and developed a car seat that reacts to drivers’ physical condition.
The Faurecia Active Wellness seat has built-in sensors that capture information such as driver heart rate, breathing rhythm, stress levels, and general energy levels. The seat reacts to driver needs based on the feedback it receives from the sensors. If it detects a change in mood, the seat reacts to this change. If the driver seems agitated, the seat activates a calming massage to relax the driver and makes the airflow warmer, which has a soothing effect. If the driver appears to be tired, the seat begins a program to prevent drowsiness; it will increase airflow through a ventilation system built into the seat to cool and wake up the driver. According to Faurecia, the information from the sensors can be shared with other connected devices to monitor overall driver health. This car seat was developed in partnership with NASA and is likely to be installed in high-end cars starting in 2018.
Innovation continues in each industry to ensure improvement of consumer life and needs. In the future, maybe our cars will be smart enough to communicate with the driver’s wearable Health Tech devices, and monitor the vital signs wirelessly, eliminating the need for extra sensors in the seat.
