• Success Story: Eye tracker supports driving school project

Within the framework of a driving school project we have got the challenge to develop a special remote eye tracker for vehicles or vehicle simulators, to register the collected eye tracking data in real time on a special PC and to preprocess the data for later evaluation and analysis. Before the project Dr. Hornecker Software-Entwicklung und IT-Dienstleistungen conducted a feasibility study in cooperation with the Institute for the development of cognition IfW • Institut für Wahrnehmungsforschung GmbH. The purpose was to explore use of remote or mobile eye tracker and several types of cameras, to explore if it is possible to use several cameras and eye trackers at the same time and how to optimize the function of calibration and pattern recognition.


Eyetracking at instrument panel


Scene camera

Mobile and automotive PC system DeltaCar PC “Stuttgart” with visualization unit DeltaTerminal and DeltaSoft HMI Software (Picture: delta-components.de)

The eye tracker has to be adapted for the use in off-road vehicles with a stabile aluminum housing, which enables the functioning of the eye tracker and data transfer to the special PC. For the registration of the whole field of view of the driver, it was necessary to use several eye trackers and several cameras to register the environment.


Special Remote Eye tracker for vehicles

The registered eye tracking data are transferred to the special PC for vehicles via USB connection. In addition to the eye tracking data the special PC also registers further parameters for example GPS signals and videos of travel. In this project an additional option was developed to mark dangerous situations via keystroke for the use of later error analysis.


Fanless Touch HMI Panel-PC for the registration of several cameras and eye tracker

In our project we used as special PC a Fanless Touch HMI Panel-PC by Delta Components. Our client was impressed by the easy handling of the panel PC despite the complex requirements.