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Comment by CaseyM | Hacker News Reader

What about socks for truck drivers to detect if they are dozing? Have them set off a phone alarm, etc. Better yet, can FitBit, etc. detect dozing and use the vibrating alarm to alert?

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While I think an alertness sensor is probably a good idea for drivers, I don't think an accelerometer is a useful way of going about it. These don't really notice that a user is asleep until they have entered a fairly deep sleep, which is fine for pausing a TV show but far too late for alerting someone who is operating a motor vehicle.

With Netflix if the accelerometer doesn't notice you've fallen for 5 minutes before pausing, that's totally fine. If the user is operating a motor vehicle and has been asleep for 5 minutes it'll be a miracle if they're still alive.

Not to mention that being in a moving truck will probably muck up the accelerometer readings...

Too useful. The innovation drivers are now purely concerned with the consumption of media.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driver_drowsiness_detection

I think this problem is usually solved by having a person press some button every once in a while[0].

[0] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_man%27s_switch#Vigilance_...

It's solved in a much nicer way in modern vehicles. Where they detect # of line crossings (dozing makes you more prone to cross the lines on the road), and how often and for how long your eyes are shut when blinking. Together they indicate tiredness, and can recommend that you take a break.

Atleast that's how I remember it working on Mercedes cars

If it doesn't have a market of 100 million people or more, it's not worth doing. /s

Truck driving worldwide probably fits this criteria for the next few years.

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