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ASP Technology just launched its Anti Sleep Pilot iPhone and iPad application to help prevent fatigue-related driving accidents. The app calculates a your fatigue level in real-time, maintains your alertness via reaction tests, and alerts your when it is time to take a rest break.
Founder Troels Palshof fell asleep at the wheel in 2007 (soon after the arrival of his first child) and narrowly avoided a crash. Not being able to find a product that could prevent a similar accident, he decided to create his own.
Swedish research shows that 20 percent of all traffic accidents and 40 percent of all accidents involving a single vehicle are fatigue-related. The company spent three years working with leading sleep researchers to develop algorithms able to identify driver fatigue. It embedded these in an Anti Sleep Pilot hardware device that went on sale last year. The device is mounted on your vehicle’s dashboard and lets you know when you need to take a break.
The app provides much the same functionality as the hardware device. ASP has identified a total of 26 factors in determining driving fatigue level. These parameters fit into three broad categories: static risk factors like age, current fatigue levels like hours awake, and drive-specific data such as the time of day.
Users take an initial test to define their risk profile based on factors like age and health data. You set your fatigue status when you start a drive, e.g. moderately tired, or take a more detailed test.
A bar on the app shows your current fatigue level and sets an alarm when you must stop and take a rest. The application is also integrated with Google Maps in order to give drivers an overview of their driving range before their next break.
There are also reaction tests that require you to periodically push a button in the screen to ensure that you are alert. The software records your reaction times and includes this in its calculation of your fatigue level.
ASP Technology was founded in Copenhagen in 2006 and is privately funded.
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