Intelligent seats to wake up drowsy motorists

BERLIN - Researchers are working on textiles of the future with integrated sensors that not only adjust the seat automatically to the optimal seating position but also wake up a driver in danger of falling asleep behind the wheel.

A research project dubbed INSITEX, which groups experts from the Daimler concern and the Fraunhofer Institute in Berlin, is currently looking at how intelligent textiles can improve safety of the occupants with the help of micro-sensors integrated into the seats, the roof, seatbelt and steering.

The sensors register various parameters including heartbeat, breathing and head position of the driver, thus configuring the extent of exhaustion or stress the driver is under. The driver then either gets an acoustic warning or the seat starts vibrating as a wake-up call.

The German textile research institute (FKT) even predicts a small technical revolution in the car cockpit during the next couple of years with special heating systems regulating the required temperature and lighting integrated into textile surfaces.

With many of the next generation of cars likely to run on electric power, the researchers are also looking at lighter materials to reduce weight, according to the FKT.