Drivers’ Attention Assessment by Blink Rate Measurement from EEG Signals

The paper presents the assessment of drivers’ attention by means of blink rate extraction from EEG signals. Ten volunteers wore an EEG headband and drove on a driving simulator in three different setups: manual driving, autonomous vehicle with prudent behavior and autonomous vehicle with aggressive behavior. Data processing and statistical tests indicate that manual driving is more mentally demanding than autonomous driving, no matters what the aggressiveness of the algorithm is. This result is confirmed also by evaluating the power of EEG beta waves, usually related to discomfort and stress.