Ford Motor Company has opened an Automotive Wearables Experience laboratory at its Research and Innovation Centre in Dearborn, Michigan, in which it is working to integrate biometrics from wearable devices with autonomous driving controls.
In particular, the company is working towards making driver-assist systems more aware of the driver's state of mind, namely if they are stressed or sleepy.
For example, the company says, lane-keeping assistance features could become more sensitive if the driver's wearable fitness tracker or smartwatch indicates they did not get enough sleep the previous night, and may therefore become sleepy.
If a driver's heart rate increases, indicating stress, the vehicle's adaptive cruise control or blind spot information system could act to increase the car's distance from other vehicles, giving the driver some "breathing room" in an effort to relax them, the company continues.
"Wearable technology integrated with the vehicle allows for more accurate biometric data to stream continuously and alert active driver-assist systems to become more sensitive if the driver shows signs of compromised health or awareness," says Gary Strumolo, global manager for vehicle design and infotronics at Ford Research and Advanced Engineering.
Not a trailblazer
Yet Ford is not the first car company to talk about linking biometric data with autonomous driving systems.
In 2013, Nissan showed off a concept for a smartwatch that would warn drivers to slow down if it picked up a hazardously high heart rate, as well as comparing the user's heart rate to their current speed.
The Nismo watch concept would also allow users to browse data from the car, such as their top and average speeds and fuel efficiency.
Car apps common
Development of smartwatch apps allowing the user to check their car's vitals is common among car-makers.
At the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Mercedes-Benz showed off its DriveStyle app for the Pebble smartwatch, allowing users to remotely access information about their car, such as its location, how much fuel it has and whether its doors are locked.
Also at CES 2014, BMW showed off an app for the first Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch, which would allow users to not only monitor data about their BMW i3 from a distance, but remotely control the car's air-conditioning system, so the car could reach the user's ideal temperature before they got inside.
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