DRIVER QUALITY ASSESSMENT FOR DRIVER EDUCATION

• US 20130189649A1
• Filed: 01/24/2012
• Published: 07/25/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/24/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America Incorporated (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: MANNINO, Matteo T.
• Granted Patent: US 8,915,738 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 434/65
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 9/052 characterised by provision for recording or measuring trainee's performance devices for psychotechnics, e.g. for vehicle drivers A61B5/16, A61B5/18

Abstract

A driver performance evaluation and apparatus includes means for generating first data stream representing driver actions, a second data stream representing vehicle movements, a filtering function to eliminate short term actions in both data streams, the generation of a raw score which is independent of timing and the adjustment of the raw score based on a comparison of actual driver action timing to an ideal timing sequence to provide a final score which is an indication of driver performance/proficiency.

Claims

1. A training method for evaluating driver performance relative to a standard set by other fully trained drivers comprising:

generating a first data stream representing sequences of driver head position and eve gaze directions associated with specific vehicle maneuvers;

generating a second data stream representing vehicle actions associated with specific maneuvers of a vehicle;

producing a running score for each driver action sequence associated with a specific vehicle maneuver from the second data stream as measured against a standard sequence created from the performance of different, fully trained drivers performing the same maneuvers in an ideal fashion; and

adjusting each score based on a comparison of the times required by the driver to perform said head position and eye gaze direction actions in each scored sequence relative to a timing standard so as to provide a numerical score for an evaluator to determine the extent to which a driver under examination is progressing.

2. A method as defined in claim 1 including the further step of filtering from the first data stream driver actions having a duration of less than a pre-determined value.

3. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein the first data stream is structured to represent driver action sequences within a moving sampling window such that for each vehicle action in the second data stream, driver actions occurring both early in or prior to as well as late in or after a vehicle action are available for scoring purposes.

4. A method as defined in claim 1 including the further step of determining a running average of the scores.

5. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein the driver actions include looking left, looking partial left for side view mirror check, speed check, straight ahead and center rear view mirror check.

6. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein the vehicle actions include lane changes, backing up and turns.

7. A system for evaluating driver performance comprising:

means for generating a first data stream representing sequences of driver actions;

means for generating a second data stream representing vehicle actions;

means for producing a score for each driver action sequence associated with a vehicle action in the second data stream as measured against a standard sequence based on the execution of said vehicle actions by a different driver; and

means for adjusting each score based on a comparison of the times required to perform the driver actions in each scored sequence relative to a timing standard.

8. The system as defined in claim 7 further including means for filtering from the first data stream, data relative to driver actions having a duration of less than a predetermined value.

9. A driver training method for evaluating a driver'"'"'s proficiency in performing a set of predetermined vehicle maneuvers comprising the steps of:

a. generating a first data stream representing a sequence of vehicle maneuvers performed during a driver exercise;

b. correlating the data from each maneuver with a second data stream representing driver actions produced during the sequence of vehicle maneuvers; and

c. scoring each driver action against the actions taken by a skilled driver performing the same maneuvers.

10. The method defined in claim 9 wherein the driver actions include head position and eye gaze direction elements.

11. The method defined in claim 10 including the further step of adjusting each driver action score according to the time taken by the driver to perform the action associated with the score.

12. The method defined in claim 11 including the further step of averaging the scores.

13. A method for evaluating the performance of a driver in training while performing a set of pre-established vehicle maneuvers relative to standards set by at least one fully trained driver performing the same maneuvers comprising the steps of:

generating a data stream representing sequences of driver eye and head movements correlated with specific vehicle maneuvers;

analyzing the data stream to determine whether the driver in training has performed the same eye and head movements as those performed by the fully trained driver;

producing a cumulative score for the driver in training; and

adjusting the score by comparing the times required by the driver in training to perform the eye and head movements relative to the time taken by the fully trained driver in performing the same movements.

14. The method as defined in claim 13 wherein the data for each maneuver in the data stream is sampled in a time window which is long enough to include movements normally occurring immediately prior to the initiation of a vehicle maneuver as well as movements occurring immediately after the conclusion of a vehicle maneuver.