A Biosignal Based Driving Experience Analysis for Curved Road: An Initial Implementation

This study presents a biosignal based driving experience analysis of an actual-vehicle experiment. A total of 10 subjects were enrolled during the experimental study. Based on their driving mileages per year, subjects were divided into novice and skilled ones at first, and then electromyography (EMG) signals of upper trapezius and sternocleidomastoid muscles were acquired continuously to evaluate a subject response to dynamic motions of the vehicle during the curve, with a driving speed of 30, 40 and 50 km/h respectively. Meanwhile, an EMG evaluation index of a normalized root mean square (RMS) was proposed to reflect the variance of EMG signals. From the experimental results, the RMS based evaluation of right upper trapezius muscle were significantly different between novice and skilled drivers, while driving with a higher speed on curve road. In addition, the RMS based evaluation of right sternocleidomastoid muscle were significantly different between novice and skilled drivers, while driving with a higher or a lower speed on curved road. It indicate that the skilled driver may have a better driving experience than that of novice ones for most curve driving conditions.