Ford is making a hat that will keep sleepy drivers awake.
Car manufacturer Ford has unveiled a technology-filled baseball cap that examines the head movements of motorists to recognise when they are suffering from fatigue.
This cap could save a truck driver's life. SafeCap is designed to keep you awake and it was developed by Ford and Sao Paulo-based creative agency GTB. They're conducting research to tell the difference between attentive and non-attentive driving. The hat uses sensors and a gyroscope to sense head movements. If a driver starts dozing off, it'll wake them up with sound, light, and vibration. It's estimated that 250,000 Americans fall asleep while driving each day. Ford is interested in making the hat widely available, but first it'll need to undergo some additional testing.
Being a trucker means driving huge distances on demanding deadlines. And one of the biggest dangers in trucking is the threat of drivers falling asleep at the wheel. To celebrate 60 years of truck production in Brazil, Ford decided to try to help the problem by creating a hat that tracks head movements and alerts drivers in danger of snoozing. Working with Sao Paulo-based office of creative agency GTB, the company developed the Ford SafeCap. After conducting research identifying which head movements were associated with the job and which indicated lack of attention and fatigue, the companies developed software to tell the difference and outfitted the trucker cap with sensors and a gyroscope to warn the driver with sound, light, and vibration.