Every day, evidence of distracted driving surrounds us. Just look around the next time you’re on the freeway. It won’t take long to find someone paying attention to something other than driving. That’s where Subaru’s DriverFocus comes in.
People are evidently unaware of their ability to use smartphone integration like Apple CarPlay and Android Auto for voice-texting. As a result, automakers increasingly install driver-monitoring systems in new vehicles.
The trend started more than 10 years ago. Using small cameras that monitor the driver’s eyes and head movements, and by comparing steering inputs to lane-keeping cameras, driver monitoring systems can tell when you’re drowsy or distracted. An alert recommends that you take a break and get some rest. Or coffee.
What is Subaru DriverFocus?
With the redesigned 2019 Forester, 2020 Legacy, and 2020 Outback, Subaru takes the traditional approach to driver monitoring systems a step further.
DriverFocus is a distraction mitigation system that employs facial recognition technology. It determines when you’re sleepy or fiddling with your phone. Like other driver monitoring systems, it then issues visual and audible warnings to encourage you to pay attention. Separately, DriverFocus can also recognize up to five different people. It also can automatically adjust the car’s seat, mirror, climate, and infotainment settings to individual driver preferences.
Vigilant technology
Subaru says DriverFocus works whether you’re wearing sunglasses or not. Furthermore, when the technology determines that you’ve stopped paying attention to your driving, the EyeSight driver assistance and collision avoidance systems are more vigilant. They react to situations faster because the technology assumes that you won’t. However, DriverFocus does not initiate a sequence to stop the vehicle if the driver suffers a medical emergency like Mercedes’ Active Emergency Stop Assist.
During a test drive of the new Forester, I had a chance to experience DriverFocus first-hand. While traveling on the freeway with the SUV’s EyeSight systems engaged, and with a co-pilot monitoring traffic ahead, I turned my head away from the road to gaze at the lush, rolling countryside near Asheville, North Carolina. After three seconds, DriverFocus warned me to look back at the road already.
Focus on fatality reduction
Subaru, citing research* from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), says that in 2015 more than 1,000 Americans were injured in traffic collisions caused by distracted driving. Every. Single. Day.
Beyond this, the NHTSA says that 3,196 of 32,166 crashes resulting in a fatality in 2015 were due to driver distraction, and 3,477 people were killed as a result.
DriverFocus aims to reduce those numbers. Unfortunately, for now, until the new 2020 Legacy and Outback arrive in dealer showrooms, Subaru’s facial recognition distraction mitigation system comes only on the most expensive trim level of the 2019 Forester. But that’s a start.
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