# An Add‐On Contactless Measurement System for Monitoring Driving Behaviours in Motorised Mobility Scooters

## TL;DR

This study introduces a system to monitor driving behaviors in mobility scooters, finding that head movements precede steering, which could improve safety.

## Contribution

The first add-on system for contactless monitoring of MMS driving behaviors using a pre-trained CNN and IMUs.

## Key findings

- Head movement consistently precedes steering operations during MMS driving.
- Cross-correlation lag between head movement and steering may serve as a novel safety index.

## Abstract

The increasing use of motorised mobility scooters (MMSs) has raised significant safety concerns, particularly related to user behaviour during operation. Although various advanced driving assistance systems have been incorporated into MMSs to identify potential environmental hazards, few studies have investigated the impact of user behaviour in MMS driving. This study was the first to incorporate automated behaviour monitoring into the evaluation of MMS driving using an add‐on driving behaviour monitoring system (ADBMS). The ADBMS was a platform for contactless measurement that used a pre‐trained convolutional neural network to estimate posture and two inertial measurement units to record steering and throttle operations. Experiments were conducted to demonstrate the usability of the ADBMS and evaluate the coordination of head movements and steering manoeuvres when driving an MMS in the outdoor environment. Cross‐correlation analysis revealed that head movement consistently preceded steering operation during the driving tasks, indicating the potential of the proposed system to quantify user behaviour related to attention toward the surrounding environment. The lag time between these two parameters may serve as a novel index of driving safety. These findings could support a comprehensive understanding of users’ driving behaviours and provide valuable insights into developing behavioural interventions to promote safer MMS use.

The increasing use of motorised mobility scooters (MMSs) has raised safety concerns related to user behaviour. We developed an easy‐to‐install, cost‐effective add‐on driving behaviour monitoring system (ADBMS) that estimates head orientation using a pre‐trained CNN and simultaneously records steering operations with IMUs. Outdoor experiments showed that head movement consistently precedes steering, and the cross‐correlation lag between them may serve as a novel safety index, offering insights for behavioural interventions to promote safer MMS use.