Method for determining the drowsiness or attention level of the driver of a road vehicle, and road vehicle thereof

A road vehicle (1) comprising:

• four wheels (2, 3), of which at least one pair is driven;
• first sensors devices (4) configured to detect at least one steering parameter (S) related to the kinematics of a driver-operated device (DR) for steering;
• where the steering parameter (S) is related to the steering angle (δ) and/or the steering speed (ω) of the road vehicle (1);
• second sensors devices (7) configured to detect at least one line parameter (L) relative to the position (P) of the road vehicle (1) within a lane (8);
• and
• an electronic control unit (9) configured to receive sensor signals for:
• processing a steering index (IS) according to the at least one steering parameter (S) detected;
• and a line index (IL) according to the at least one line parameter (L) detected;
• processing a driver (DR) drowsiness/attention index (IDA) as a function of a combination of the steering index (IS) and the line index (IL) by adjusting the drowsiness/attention index (IDA) using a sensitivity function (SF) that increases or decreases the value of the drowsiness/attention index (IDA) as a function of boundary conditions comprising at least one of:
• driving duration, time of day, presence of passengers in the road vehicle (1), or use of driving assistants;
• and
• when the drowsiness/attention index (IDA) as adjusted by the sensitivity function (SF) exceeds a predetermined threshold, actuating actuators to provide braking and/or haptic feedback;
• characterized in that the steering index (IS) and/or the line index (IL) are calculated as a function of a respective punctual detection (PIS, PIL) of the steering parameter (S) and/or the line parameter (L) respectively and a respective base detection BIS, BIL) of the steering parameter (S) and/or the line parameter (L) respectively;
• and
• further characterized in that the punctual detection (PIS) of the steering parameter (S) is calculated as a function of the square root of the sum of the squares of the steering angle (δ) and the steering speed (ω) according to formula:
• PIS=√(δ2+ω2).