Evaluation of a Motion Seat System for Reduction of a Driver’s Passive Task-Related (TR) Fatigue

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Abstract
A passive task-related (TR) fatigue that occurs monotonous driving environment can degrade driver's alertness and performance, thereby impairing driving safety. This study evaluated the driver's passive TR fatigue reduction effect of the motion seat system in terms of driving performance, physiological response, and subjective fatigue. 17 Korean drivers (6 females and 11 males) measured the driving performance (standard deviation of lane position, SDLP; break reaction time, BRT), percentage of eye closure (PERCLOS), and standard deviation of NN interval (SDNN) of the ECG during simulated driving for 90 minutes on a monotonous highway. The evaluation of the driving consisted of the first half (45 min) and the second half (45 min), while static seat condition in the first half and seat motion (bow, wave motion profile) condition in the second half. During static seat condition driving, SDLP, BRT, and PERCLOS were significantly higher (α = .05) in the second half compared with first half by 6.0 cm, 92.8 msec and 1.3%, respectively. However, there was no significant difference between first half and second half under motion seat conditions. In addition, subjective passive mental fatigue was observed to be 1.2 times lower during motion seat conditions than static seat condition (p < 0.01). The results of this study indicated that motion seat system have some effect on the driver’s passive TR fatigue reduction. Our findings may not extend to on road driving condition because we tested only simulation driving condition. Therefore, effect of motion seat system on driver’s passive TR fatigue need to be evaluated in future studies under real road condition.

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