Analysis of Causal Factor of Driver Fatigue in the Driving in Different Driving Conditions

Masataka Adachi, Sou Nobukawa, Keiichiro Inagaki

Abstract: Addressing driving fatigue is crucial among the various factors in traffic accidents. The origins of driver fatigue encompass prolonged driving, sleep deprivation, and the induction of stress inherent in driving. The causes of such driver fatigue were categorized into physical factors, including sleep deprivation and prolonged driving, and perceptional-behavioral factors such as perception of driving conditions. Numerous studies have explored technologies to detect driver fatigue in terms of relevance to sleep states, eye movements, electroencephalography (EEG) activation levels, and their functional connectivity. It was also found differences in the occurrence of driver fatigue and related theta and alpha band activity based on driving conditions. However, the factors contributing to these differences remained unexplored. This study seeks to investigate the causal relationship between driver fatigue induced in different driving environments and the corresponding brain activity. We focus on perceptional load, particularly the perception of traffic objects within the driving condition, and physical loads, such as steering, acceleration, and braking, associated with variations in driving environments. In the experiment, we evaluate the relationship between such differences in physical and mental load and the occurrence of fatigue dependent on the driving condition with considering EEG activation patterns. In the results, we found that the amount of load related to driver perception and operation inherent in driving environments plays a crucial role in driver fatigue.