Ferrari Working on... Mind reading?

Autocar:

"Ferrari has reportedly applied for a new patent application that’s said to cover technology that monitors a driver’s mental and physical state in order to adjust a car’s stability and traction control systems in order to help avoid potential accidents resulting from a loss of control.

The patent describes the installation of a series of sensors, located around a car’s cabin, which constantly monitors a driver’s state.

The application states: 'Drivers tend to miscalculate--in particular, overestimate--their driving skill and, more importantly, their psychophysical condition, with the result that driver-selected dynamic vehicle performance simply reflects the driver’s wish, as opposed to the driver’s actual psychophysical condition and proficiency.'

Some of the driver giveaways the technology will be looking for include respiration rate, blood pressure and heart rates, eye movement and blink rates, brainwave activity, body temperature and the conductivity of the driver’s skin (to determine the degree of perspiration).

The good news is that such a system can dial up a car’s response if it detects a driver is particularly alert, in addition to improving safety in the case of a tired or unresponsive driver."


So the time will come when your car knows you're too bad of a driver to go out on Sunday.
This is odd. Ferrari seem to be changing (while it's still speculative) little things, here recently. While Ferrari aren't the first to try this technology, what's happening to the sports car? How is this improving the driving experience?

_J

 

God knows! Let's hope none of that data gets back to the manufacturer!

Who knows, Sparky.

One day our cars will be reading their own telemetry and will actually get tired.
"Nah, ya know, I've been at an average of 5,000rpm this summer so I think we'll take fall off. Plus your car control sucks."

_J