Influencing alertness through remote coaching for professional drivers

This paper presents a focused look at findings related to driver fatigue from Use Case A (UCA) of EU project PANACEA (grant agreement number 953426). UCA considers safety drivers of autonomous shuttles. For safety and regulation reasons all shuttles have a driver present ready to intervene if needed. In practice, this means that the safety driver is responsible for ensuring the safety of both passengers and surrounding road users. 8 shuttle safety drivers (100% of those available) participated. Subjective driver sleepiness was reported daily at the start and end of each shift using the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale. Potential risk for driver sleepiness was calculated using the Bordeaux Sleepiness Scale (BOSS). Overall, sleepiness was a rare experience (mean KSS start shift = 3, mean KSS end shift = 3.1). However, those identified as potentially at-risk using BOSS had some experiences of sleepiness (KSS=7) on some shifts. The PANACEA system uses input from sensors in the vehicle, workplace depot and on the driver, creating a holistic monitoring and assessment system. This detects professional drivers who are not fit to drive and supports them and their employers to manage the situation and adopt preventive measures.