System and method for assessing arousal level of driver of vehicle that can select manual driving mode or automated driving mode

1. A system for assessing arousal level of a driver of a vehicle, the system comprising:

at least one first sensor;

at least one second sensor; and

a processor that

(A) acquires driving mode information that indicates a driving mode of the vehicle is either a first mode, in which travel control of the vehicle is performed by the driver, or a second mode, in which at least a portion of the travel control of the vehicle is automatically performed,

(B) determines whether the driving mode of the vehicle is either the first mode or the second mode based on the driving mode information,

(C) executes the following (c1) to (c3) in a case where the driving mode is determined as being the first mode,

(c1) acquiring driving information that indicates a driving operation by the driver and/or indicates a driving state of the vehicle via the at least one first sensor,

(c2) acquiring physiological information of the driver via the at least one second sensor, and

(c3) assessing the arousal level based on both of the driving information and the physiological information, and

(D) executes the following (d1) and (d2) in a case where the driving mode is determined as being the second mode,

(d1) acquiring the physiological information via the at least one second sensor, and

(d2) assessing the arousal level based on the physiological information without referring to the driving information.

2. The system according to claim 1 ,

wherein the processor,

in the (c3),

(c31) estimates first arousal level of the driver from the driving information,

(c32) estimates second arousal level of the driver from the physiological information, and

(c33) assesses the arousal level by referring to the first arousal level and the second arousal level, and

in the (d2),

(d21) estimates second arousal level of the driver from the physiological information, and

(d22) assesses the arousal level by referring to the second arousal level.

3. The system according to claim 2 ,

wherein the processor, in the (d22), regards the second arousal level as the arousal level.

4. The system according to claim 2 ,

wherein the processor, in the (c33), selects one of the first arousal level and the second arousal level as the arousal level.

5. The system according to claim 4 ,

wherein the processor,

in the (c33),

(c331) assesses whether or not reliabilities of the first arousal level and the second arousal level each are equal to or higher than a threshold value, and

(c332) selects one of the first arousal level and the second arousal level whose reliability is equal to or higher than the threshold value, as the arousal level.

6. The system according to claim 5 ,

wherein the processor, in the (c332), regards the first arousal level as the arousal level, in a case where the reliabilities of the first arousal level and the second arousal level is equal to or higher than the threshold value and where the first arousal level and the second arousal level are different from each other.

7. The system according to claim 2 ,

wherein the processor, in the (c32) and (d21), estimates the first arousal level and the second arousal level from the physiological information in accordance with a program, and

the processor, after the (c31) and (c32), further

(c34) generates teacher data that indicate a correspondence relationship between the first arousal level and a prescribed feature in the physiological information, in a case where the first arousal level and the second arousal level are different from each other, and

(c35) causes the program to execute a learning process by using the teacher data.

8. The system according to claim 7 ,

wherein the processor, in the (c35), generates or updates a model that indicates a relationship between the physiological information and the arousal level.

9. The system according to claim 8 ,

wherein after the update of the model, the program outputs same arousal level as the first arousal level estimated in the (c31) in a case where same physiological information as the physiological information acquired in the (c2) is input.

10. The system according to claim 7 ,

wherein the processor,

in the (c34),

(c341) calculates a correlation coefficient between each of plural physiological features in the physiological information and the first arousal level, in a case where the first arousal level and the second arousal level are different from each other, and

(c342) selects at least one of the plural physiological features as the prescribed feature in accordance with the correlation coefficient, and

in the (c35),

generates or updates a model that indicates a relationship between the prescribed feature and the arousal level.

11. The system according to claim 1 ,

wherein the at least one second sensor includes a heart rate sensor that detects a heart rate of the driver.

12. The system according to claim 1 ,

wherein the at least one second sensor includes a camera that detects a facial expression of the driver.

13. The system according to claim 1 ,

wherein the at least one second sensor includes a body movement sensor that detects body movement of the driver.

14. The system according to claim 1 ,

wherein the at least one first sensor includes a steering angle sensor that detects a steering angle of a steering wheel of the vehicle.

15. The system according to claim 1 ,

wherein the at least one first sensor includes a position sensor that detects positions of an accelerator pedal and/or a brake pedal of the vehicle.

16. The system according to claim 1 ,

wherein the at least one first sensor includes an acceleration sensor that detects an acceleration of the vehicle.

17. A method for assessing arousal level of a driver of a vehicle, the method comprising:

(A) acquiring driving mode information that indicates whether a driving mode of the vehicle is either a first mode, in which travel control of the vehicle is performed by the driver, or a second mode, in which at least a portion of the travel control of the vehicle is automatically performed;

(B) determines whether the driving mode of the vehicle is either the first mode or the second mode based on the driving mode information;

(C) in a case where the driving mode is determined as being the first mode,

(c1) acquiring driving information that indicates a driving operation by the driver and/or indicates a driving state of the vehicle via at least one first sensor,

(c2) acquiring physiological information of the driver via at least one second sensor, and

(c3) assessing the arousal level based on both of the driving information and the physiological information; and

(D) in a case where the driving mode is determined as being the second mode,

(d1) acquiring the physiological information via the at least one second sensor, and

(d2) assessing the arousal level based on the physiological information without referring to the driving information.

18. The method according to claim 17 ,

wherein the (c3) includes:

(c31) estimating first arousal level of the driver from the driving information;

(c32) estimating second arousal level of the driver from the physiological information; and

(c33) assessing the arousal level by referring to the first arousal level and the second arousal level, and

the (d2) includes:

(d21) estimating second arousal level from the physiological information; and

(d22) assessing the arousal level by referring to the second arousal level.