The system uses cameras and artificial intelligence (AI) to detect hand movements that deviate from normal driving behaviour and grades or classifies them in terms of possible safety threats.
Fakhri Karray, an electrical and computer engineering professor at Waterloo, said that information could be used to improve road safety by warning or alerting drivers when they are dangerously distracted.
And as advanced self-driving features are increasingly added to conventional cars, he said, signs of serious driver distraction could be employed to trigger protective measures.
“The car could actually take over driving if there was imminent danger, even for a short while, in order to avoid crashes,” said Karray, a University Research Chair and director of the Centre for Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence (CPAMI) at Waterloo.