SEAT uses eye-tracking glasses to track the driver's gaze to make driving safer

According to foreign media reports, the Spanish automaker SEAT's Smart Quality team uses eye tracking glasses to track the driver's gaze. The technology uses infrared sensors, cameras and algorithms to accurately understand the direction of the driver's gaze, allowing SEAT drivers to interact with in-vehicle technology more intuitively and safely.

SEAT eye-tracking glasses (Image credit: SEAT)

SEAT is using the latest eye-tracking technology to help engineers make future driving more intuitive and safer. The automaker's eye-tracking technology uses infrared sensors, high-resolution images and complex algorithms to accurately determine where the driver's eyes are while driving.

Since the driver's primary focus is on the road ahead, this technology can help engineers design better cockpits, allowing drivers to safely locate and operate technologies on the center console, such as the infotainment system, and on the steering wheel with just a glance.

SEAT eye-tracking glasses (Image credit: SEAT)

The technology is currently being trialled by SEAT’s Intelligent Quality team with the aim of improving the safety and driving experience of future models by obtaining precise information about the driver’s interaction with the vehicle.

“We have to ensure that the driver’s interaction with the screen is kept to a minimum, and to do that, any technology the driver needs needs to be intuitive and natural,” said Rubén Martínez, Head of Smart Quality at SEAT. “We now know reliably where the driver needs to find specific information, such as battery charge or fuel level, or adjust other in-car devices.”

The department selects drivers from different backgrounds and puts them behind the wheel of a SEAT Leon. "For example, we ask the driver to turn up the temperature or change the radio station, and we analyze where the driver looks first on the screen and how long they look at it," Martínez said. "Previously, SEAT learned this information by asking questions, but the brain often misleads the driver, and where you think you are looking is not where you are really looking."

Within the Intelligent Quality department, the trial used a complex algorithm that allowed SEAT to study the eye gaze behavior of each driver, helping designers to ensure that drivers spend more time looking at the road ahead and less time operating the vehicle's controls. This technology will be key in developing the cockpit of future vehicles, determining the position, size and distribution of vehicle information and various controls in the most intuitive and safest way.