washington a new fatiguesensing steering wheel device tracks a drivers grip to alert them to wake up and pull over if they are drowsy the technology is based on the fact that when people drive and are reasonably alert they are constantly applying pressure to the wheel andor moving their hands along it if someone should fall asleep have a heart attack or otherwise lose consciousness that pressure will lessen and their hands will move less the device consists of a thin strip that is applied to the inside rim of a steering wheel beneath the covering gizmag reported the strip is made up of thin layers of foil which have a weak electrical current running through them when pressure is applied and causes the layers to touch one another it creates a short circuit between those layers a microprocessor keeps track of the intensity frequency and location of those shorts and uses it to establish a typical driving pattern for the user according to the company hoffman and krippner which developed the device when they deviate from it significantly the car will then alert them to wake up and pull over pti published on jul 13 2015 at 0748 am ist telegram facebook copy link be the first one to comment comment now comments comment now read comment 1 all comments post post find this comment offensive choose your reason below and click on the submit button this will alert our moderators to take actions reasons for reporting foul language defamatory inciting hatred against a certain community out of context spam others report join the community of 2m industry professionals subscribe to our newsletter to get latest insights analysis download etauto app get realtime updates save your favourite articles scan to download app international driver auto safety steering wheel homenewsauto technologysmart steering wheel detects driver drowsiness