Autonomous vehicle with driver presence and physiological monitoring

A road transportation vehicle having a driver seat, comprising:

• autonomous driving control having a set-up mode for specifying a driving route, an active drive mode for performing autonomous steering, acceleration, and braking functions to navigate along the driving route, a safe shutdown mode for identifying and autonomously proceeding to an out-of-traffic stopping location, and an emergency response mode for autonomously performing an emergency intervention;
• and
• a driver sensing system for sensing a driver presence in the driver seat and for sensing a physiological state of the driver;
• wherein while in the set-up mode the autonomous driving control compares the sensed physiological state to a predetermined normal condition, and the active drive mode is not entered unless the driver is present in the driver seat and the physiological state matches the predetermined normal condition;
• wherein while in the active driving mode the autonomous driving control quantifies an elapsed time period over which the driver presence is not detected, wherein if the time period increases above a first threshold then the autonomous driving control initiates a warning state to provide a notice to the driver that the active drive mode will be interrupted if the driver presence continues to not be detected, and wherein if the time period increases above a second threshold then the autonomous driving control terminates the active drive mode and initiates the safe shutdown mode;
• and
• wherein while in the active driving mode the autonomous driving control compares the sensed physiological state to a predetermined emergency condition and if a match is found then the autonomous driving control terminates the active drive mode and initiates the emergency response mode.