Overview
According to statistics, a large proportion of accidents, often with fatal consequences is caused by reducing the cognitive ability of the driver as a result of uncomfortable thermal sensation in the cabin. Today's modern assistance systems control the variety of situations that may lead to an accident. Some studies have shown, however that the driver is becoming increasingly a dispatcher of the systems. A big problem arises in situations where the driver must gain over the control of the vehicle.
The project will focus on improving the safety of vehicles and reducing the number of accidents. The aim of the project is to develop a system that would help avoiding dangerous situations in which the driver gets in particular because of thermal discomfort in the cabin (i.e., high or low temperature for each segment of the body surface) and consequently often difficult manipulation with the controls of the heating / cooling system such as directional manipulation of ventilation outlets, switching positions and fan performance.
Therefore we see the effort to make these systems work in the easiest possible control mode, so that the least divert the driver's attention. The latest statistics of the Police Directorate of the Czech Republic suggests that once it gets warmer, accidents significantly increase. E.g. the number of accidents rose from 6240 in April to 7389 in May. Of course one can speculate on the reasons, but the effect of increased temperature is obvious. Therefore, the aim is to develop hardware, software, algorithms and visualization system for temperature control of significant segments of the human body (those are the head, chest, arms and feet), so that the driver obtain a clear visual information about a possible imminent risk of segmented thermal discomfort and could very easily by touching the screen affect the setting of the air conditioning system.