Ford has a thing for interesting patents and some obscure technology. Recall, the automaker built a baby crib that mimics a car’s motion to rock youngsters to sleep. For its next act, the automaker revealed the “SmartCap,” a hat for truck drivers to monitor their behavior and potentially save their life.
The SmartCap keeps tabs on a truck driver’s head movement and notes various movements associated with fatigue and lack of attention through sensors and a gyroscope. If it detects a driver is on the verge of nodding off, alerts through sound, light and vibrations occur.
Ford developed the SmartCap to mark 60 years of truck production in Brazil, and although it’s merely an exercise, the automaker hopes a warm reception might make it commercially viable. It hopes it can find additional partners to refine the technology and potentially bring it to market one day.
“SafeCap, which began as a local market project, continues to grow as we see potential around the world,” says Oswaldo Ramos, Ford’s head of sales, marketing and service in Brazil. “After we conclude our Brazilian tests, the goal is to share with other countries.”
Comment
Better have mesh on the back, a true trucker’s hat has mesh.