Coordinating delivery of notifications to the driver of a vehicle to reduce distractions

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing program instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to transmit notifications to a driver of a vehicle by performing the steps of:

• determining a first mental load on the driver based on sensor data;
• determining a second mental load on the driver, wherein the second mental load comprises a predicted mental load impact on the driver attributable to a first notification;
• determining, based on the first mental load and the second mental load, that a mental load threshold will be exceeded;
• determining a priority level associated with the first notification;
• and
• in response to determining that the mental load threshold will be exceeded:
• changing a sensory modality of the first notification to generate a modified notification having a second predicted mental load impact on the driver lower than the predicted mental load impact on the driver attributable to the first notification;
• and
• transmitting, based on the priority level, either the first notification or a modified version of the first notification to one or more output devices to be output within the vehicle, thereby causing a third mental load on the driver that does not exceed the mental load threshold.

A system, comprising:

• a sensor array that captures physiologic data associated with a driver of a vehicle;
• a memory storing a software application;
• and
• a processor that, when executing the software application, is configured to perform the steps of:
• determining a first mental load on the driver based on sensor data,
• determining a second mental load on the driver, wherein the second mental load comprises a predicted mental load impact on the driver attributable to a first notification,
• determining, based on the first mental load and the second mental load, that a mental load threshold will be exceeded, and
• in response to determining that the mental load threshold will be exceeded:
• changing a sensory modality of the first notification to generate a modified notification having a second predicted mental load impact on the driver lower than the predicted mental load impact on the driver attributable to the first notification, and
• transmitting the modified notification to one or more output devices, wherein the one or more output devices output the modified notification within the vehicle, and the modified notification causes a third mental load on the driver that does not exceed the mental load threshold.