Elevating the Fundamentals

The bounce pass—a fundamental skill in basketball that every player must master to succeed. The recent success and attention garnered by Caitlin Clark and our women’s basketball team this past year highlight the importance of mastering the basics, a principle that also holds true in our work at the DSRI: that we take the fundamentals and elevate them to state-of-the-art levels.

At DSRI, we’ve applied this approach to automated driving, successfully collecting data on unmarked and gravel roads. This achievement was made possible by assembling an expert team of our talented staff and students, in collaboration with key partners like Hexagon | AutonomouStuff and Mandli Communications, among others. While automated driving represents the future of transportation, we must continue to remind the public that driver attention remains a fundamental factor in crash causation.

Crashes are complex, involving multiple factors, but attention-related issues—such as distraction, sleepiness, and impairment from alcohol or drugs—are measurable and predictable for each driver. These issues are core areas of interest for us. By characterizing and predicting individual driver performance, we aim to teach machine learning models to recognize inattention and take appropriate actions, such as alerting the driver or intervening with steering or braking when necessary. This year, we’ve focused on advancing sophisticated next-generation driver monitoring systems by refining these models through data and parameter adjustments to minimize errors and improve predictions.

In the pages ahead, you’ll see how the fundamentals evolve into state-of-the-art innovations. Our team is composed of champions who are driving safety to new levels, ultimately saving lives on our roads.

Daniel V. McGehee

Director, Driving Safety Research Institute

Professor, Industrial & Systems Engineering, Emergency Medicine, Public Health