On May 14th, Tesla strengthened its monitoring of drivers to prevent distracted and fatigued driving, regardless of whether the vehicle is using autonomous driving features.
Tesla has installed a camera facing the driver in the car, which can determine the driver’s attention and state by eye movement and phone usage. If unsafe behavior is detected, Tesla will disable the Autopilot feature and remind the driver to focus on driving.
According to hacker Greentheonly, Tesla is upgrading its monitoring system with new metrics, such as the number of times the driver yawns, blinks, the duration of those blinks, and sitting posture, to determine signs of fatigue. These improvements apply not only to situations where Autopilot is used, but also to situations where the driver fully controls the vehicle, all with the aim of ensuring safe driving in all scenarios.
Currently, these improvements have not been officially launched, possibly because Tesla is still determining which behaviors may make drivers unsuitable for driving. IT Home noticed that this improvement is one of several safety features recently launched by Tesla, including upgrades to the automatic emergency braking system.
