Keep your eyes up to stay safe

William Gordon

DMVedu.org Safe Driving Scholarship

With two engineers for parents, I have been drawn to the STEM fields
from a young age. Engineering is about using science and technology
to solve problems and make our lives better. One of the biggest
problems that our communities face today is distracted driving. I
have had my license for two years and have avoided any traffic
accidents. I consider myself lucky as several of my friends have not.
Fortunately, they were not injured, but that is not always the case.
There were 1004 traffic fatalities in my home state of Illinois in
2019 and nearly 40,000 nationwide. 25% of those fatalities were
completely avoidable because they were caused by distracted driving
(according to statistics from IIHS and teensafe.com). Driver
education is very important, but after the initial “new driver”
phase, drivers get comfortable and lose many of the good habits they
learned in drivers ed. Technology is a critical back up to poor
habits and increased risk factors.

I want to study computer engineering in college because I want to use
artificial intelligence to design new vehicle control systems. AI
enhanced control systems would make driving safer. Many safe driving
programs focus on a primary source of distraction – mobile phones,
but there are some drawbacks with phone app-based solutions. First,
there are many distractions other than mobile phones like radios,
passengers and food that can cause traffic accidents. Also,
passengers might want to use their mobile phones while driving, and
most apps that use accelerometers do not distinguish between drivers
and passengers. I read an article about how marketing companies use
eye tracking devices to determine how people view packaging and
advertising. I would use similar technology, enhanced with AI, to
reduce distracted driving. A camera at the base of the windshield
would track the drivers eye movement. We all learned in drivers’ ed
that safe drivers should keep their eyes forward and scanning for
potential hazards. The camera would feed eye movement data into the
cars computer system. Evaluated along with all the other sensors on
the car, the eye tracking data would help the autonomous driving
system determine risks when the driver’s eyes were not on the road.

I found my specific passion for AI and computer engineering while
attending the SEE Engineering Camp at the University of Michigan and
the Purdue Seminar for Top Engineering Prospects over the past two
summers. I was introduced to Arduino and robots and learned later in
my AP computer science classes, how integrated software and hardware
tools can solve tangible problems – like distracted driving.
Michigan is a leader in computer engineering and the application of
many engineering disciplines in auto manufacturing, so it is a great
fit for my interests. Many people are probably better suited than me
to make a positive change on the human behavior that leads to
distracted driving. I believe the way I can best help this critical
problem is to push the boundaries of technology and make driving
safer for all of us.