Implementation of microcontroller based driver assistance and vehicle safety monitoring system

A number of traffic accidents are reported every year due to driver's declined alertness during driving and also due to drunken driving. It is necessary to monitor various parameters in order to assist and alert the driver so that accidents can be avoided. In this paper, we present the design and implementation of a prototype driver assistance and vehicle safety monitoring system. This system measures various driver assistance parameters such as eye blinking, heartbeat, and alcohol consumption, and various vehicle parameters such as engine temperature, presence of harmful gases, obstacle distance, and vehicle location. The proposed system is built using Arduino UNO board consisting of ATmega328P microcontroller. Arduino Integrated Development Environment (IDE) tool is used to develop the necessary software. An LCD display is used at the dashboard side to display the monitored values and necessary action is taken by the microcontroller for safety of the driver and vehicle. A GPS receiver is used in the vehicle to determine its location. This position information is sent using GSM modem to the police/owner in the form of Google map position link, when the driver or vehicle condition is abnormal, so that vehicle can be tracked.