Driver response to steering perturbations: mechanical arm admittance and grip pressure

Abstract

The monitoring of the driver condition has been studied extensively to develop driver assistance systems. Whereas, the available methods for acquiring information about the condition of the driver are limited to the analysis of driving performances and the monitoring of the visual behaviour via cameras. In this study, we propose to estimate the condition of the drivers via the relationship between mechanical arm admittance, which provides the dynamics relationship between a force input and a position output, and grip pressure in the frequency range of [0.1-0.5 Hz]. The perturbation amplitude effects and between subject variations were investigated. Ten participants performed driving simulations to determine these characteristics. Participants were instructed to grab the steering wheel while wearing grip sensors gloves. Experimental results show that mechanical arm admittance is a power function of the grip pressure of the participants. A nonlinear response was obtained with larger admittance with larger perturbation amplitudes.