Configuration of in-vehicle entertainment based on driver attention

A vehicle driver attention monitoring system for a vehicle, comprising:

• one or more driver inattention sensors that are installed on the vehicle, comprising an eye-tracking sensor;
• an onboard computer having a processor;
• memory that is communicatively coupled to the processor of the onboard computer, wherein the memory stores computer instructions;
• and
• one or more vehicle-user interfaces for providing visual and/or audio output to a local vehicle user;
• wherein the computer instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the vehicle driver attention monitoring system to:
• obtain driver attention sensor data from the one or more driver attention sensors, comprising tracking eye movement of the vehicle driver's eyes to determine whether the vehicle driver's eyes are focused on a road in front of the vehicle;
• detect driver inattention events based on the obtained driver attention sensor data, comprising driver inattention events demarcated by driver inattention start events and driver inattention end events, wherein the driver inattention start events comprise determining the driver's eyes are directed away from the road in front of the vehicle based upon the tracked eye movement and the driver inattention end events comprise determining the driver's eyes are directed back to the road in front of the vehicle based upon the tracked eye movement;
• determine driver inattention metrics based on the driver attention sensor data and in response to the detected driver inattention events, the driver inattention metrics comprising an average length (D) of the detected driver inattention events and a count (C) of the driver inattention events;
• mapping the driver inattention metrics to a plurality of hierarchical inattention levels (L-1, L-2, L-3 and L-4) to determine at least one driver inattention level, the mapping comprising:
• comparing the average length (D) to a plurality of length thresholds (T1, T2 and T3) wherein T1<T2<T3;
• comparing the count (C) to a plurality of count thresholds (N1 and N2) wherein N1<N2;
• and
• using a plurality of decisions based upon mutually exclusive combinations of the average length (D) comparisons and the count (C) comparisons to map each of the combinations to one of the hierarchical inattention levels, wherein the combinations comprise D≥T1 and C<N1 mapping to L-1, D≥T1 and N1≤C<N2 mapping to L-2, D≥T2 and C<N1 mapping to L-2, D≥T1 and C≥N2 mapping to L-3, D≥T2 and N1≤C<N2 mapping to L-3, D≥T3 and C<N1 mapping to L-3, D≥T2 and C≥N2 mapping to L-4, and D≥T3 and C≥N1 mapping to L-4;
• based on the determined at least one driver inattention level, determine one or more remedial actions to be carried out;
• and
• carry out the one or more remedial actions, wherein, when at least one of the one or more remedial actions is carried out, in-vehicle entertainment that is provided by the one or more vehicle-user interfaces of the vehicle is restricted or prevented for a predetermined amount of time which varies based upon the determined at least one driver inattention level.