Japanese researches have come up with a car seat that car detect when its occupant is about to fall asleep. The life-saving technology, which is still in prototype form, may eventually appear as mandatory equipment in vehicles, putting an end to accidents involving a driver that has fallen asleep behind the wheel.
The seat contains a number of pressure-sensors that can detect changes in pulse and respiration that occur typically before a person falls asleep. Unlike previous concepts that required the driver to attach a number of electrodes or other hardware to their body, this latest version consists of only a few sensors built into the seat itself. Researchers claim that the system still works effectively even when the driver is wearing thick layers of clothing.
The developers are yet to install some sort of mechanism to actually wake a driver once asleep, but the an alarm system is planned to be tested in the near-future, ahead of a planned market launch within five years.
Via: Foursprung
http://www.foursprung.com/2007/03/no-doze-car-seat.html