Implementation of the Drowsy Driving Prevention System using AI-Based Conversations to Maintain Driver Arousal

Since car accidents caused by drowsy driving have been one of significant issues for Intelligent Transport Systems, many previous studies have focused on developing safe driving support systems. However, most of these studies rely on sensors to detect drowsiness, which may result in delayed prevention due to the fast movement of the car. Therefore, this study proposes a drowsy driving prevention system that utilizes a smart speaker to maintain the driver's arousal. The proposed method involves two types of conversations controlled by cloud-based AI modules with the drivers. The first type is lightweight, consisting of selectable questions, while the second type is heavyweight, involving natural conversations with the AI module. This paper reports on experiments conducted with a implemented prototype system of the proposed method. The results show that the proposed system effectively maintains the driver's arousal state. However, natural conversations may induce a slightly annoyed state compared to selectable conversations.