Internship | Driver gaze patterns

About this position

Driver gaze is the primary source for understanding the traffic environment and anticipating future actions of other traffic participants. In order to understand gaze behavior, we need to relate it to what is happening in the world around the driver. TNO is looking for a student who wants to dive into this topic. Interesting? Read further

What will be your role?

You will be focusing on finding patterns in driver gaze behavior. Gaze patterns could give more insight in how humans scan the environment during driving and how this information gathering varies depending on the traffic environment and/or the mental state of the driver. The focus scenario will be lane changes on highways, so especially mirror usage and looks-over-the-shoulder are of importance. In the Netherlands, drivers learn how to use the mirrors during driving lessons. But do drivers actually always scan their rear-view mirror first, followed by their side mirror and a look over the shoulder? Or is this dependent on the traffic situation or other factors? This is something to find out

Proposed approach:

Literature review regarding driver gaze patterns and its modelling. Indicate literature gaps; Obtain and analyse gaze behavior including blind spot and mirror usage in available/obtained datasets; The outcome of the project will be a gaze behavior model based on highway driving gaze patterns using State-of-the-Art models.

You will work at the Integrated Vehicle Safety department of TNO on the Automotive Campus in Helmond. In this department people are working on improving the safety of (future) automated driving vehicles. To do so, we acquire and analyse data from naturalistic road studies, test tracks and driving simulator studies. The people are young, enthusiastic and driven. You will work in an open office area, within your own team. One of our employees will be your mentor. He will help you to get acquainted with the department and give you guidelines for your research in order to help you to get the best out of it

What we expect from you

We require that you are familiar with basic human factor concepts such as situational awareness and distraction. You are knowledgeable in Matlab/Python or you are willing to learn. Knowledge about driver monitoring or gaze behavior is a pré. We like you to start as soon as possible. The thesis fits to a 9 month project (based on full time availability). We require you to work in Helmond at the TNO office at least twice a week to enable you to work with our tools and to have short communication lines.

What you'll get in return

You want to work on the precursor of your career; a work placement gives you an opportunity to take a good look at your prospective future employer. TNO goes a step further. It's not just looking that interests us; you and your knowledge are essential to our innovation. That's why we attach a great deal of value to your personal and professional development. You will, of course, be properly supervised during your work placement and be given the scope for you to get the best out of yourself. Naturally, we provide suitable work placement compensation.

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