The Brief

Western Australia has the worst rate of road death in the country. Some regions are amongst highest in the world. And according to the Road Safety Council of Western Australia, the biggest killer, we discovered, isn't alcohol or speed it's driver inattention. Considered a contributing factor in over 46% of all serious road accidents, the specific causes vary from daydreaming, driving on autopilot and various in-car distractions. And it's perhaps because of this complexity, that the issue has received little attention from researchers. Rather than just raising awareness, we wanted to find a way to start solving the problem. We found that the one common thing that could link all forms of inattention, was neural activity. Early discussions with neuroscientists confirmed the theory, and our idea for an attention-powered car was born. RAC's Attention Powered Car was over 12 months in the making from conception, to prototype and launch. The public release and the campaign that surrounded it took a further 6 months to unfold. The team assembled to bring the innovation to life included the ad agency, a production company specialising in applied technology, a neuro-technology firm, a government-funded research body and the local government road authority.

The Attention Powered Car utilises a neuro-technology that determines the driver's attention levels. When it sees the driver is distracted, it sends a signal to cut the car's acceleration. Through a series of baseline tests, car simulators and going out on the track to gather data, we worked out what attention actually looks like when you're driving. The variables we analysed included alpha waves, blink rate, blink duration, gaze rate, head tilt, frequency of task switching. The biggest tell for a distracted driver we learnt, was the frequency and duration of task switching. We gave this metric a number so that we had a recognizable baseline for attention loss. This algorithm that measures inattention is the first of its kind. Software was then developed to communicate this algorithm as an output directly to a custom-built circuit board plugged into the car's onboard computer system. We then installed this device into the car that ignored the accelerator everytime the driver's attention dropped below this level. After more tests and data analysis, we got the car roadworthy and came up with a new baseline before taking the car out on a journey through some of the state's worst affected areas to collect real data from real people on the road. The Attention Powered Car became the centerpiece of an experiential awareness campaign on the issue. We quickly discovered that the neuro-tech employed to bring it to life, was capable of much more. The car's function evolved to become a mobile test lab for researching the issue and testing causes vs. solutions the first live road study of its kind. Post campaign, the APC is proving to be a successful driver-training tool at the RAC Driving Centre.

The Attention Powered Car was the centerpiece of 6-month road safety awareness campaign. It allowed drivers to experience what personally distracted them and gave us invaluable data to educate the broader public on the worst causes and possible solutions to the state's biggest road killer. This information is teaching us the pathway to training the brain to stay more focused while driving. Success has also led to the RAC commissioning the development of a simplified, consumer-ready version of the technology, with the same ability to give the driver real-time feedback when distracted. We are developing a training app in the first practical attempt to solve the issue of driver inattention. The APC proved so successful as a driver-training tool that it lives on at the RAC's Driving Centre. And, the government funded research body we partnered with to devise the algorithm for what 'paying attention while driving' actually looks like, has been invited to share their findings at the World Congress of Intelligent Transport Systems later this year. Our algorithm is now being supplied as a feature in neuro headsets for testing in other fields.