News

A significant proportion of deaths (>10%) occurring on Swedish roads are attributed to sudden illness in drivers. The majority of road fatalities resulting from medical conditions are associated with cardiovascular disease. Detecting and managing these events could potentially save numerous lives on our roads. The primary objective of this project is to investigate the feasibility of utilizing in-vehicle measurements of heart rate and electrocardiogram (ECG) to identify the onset of sudden cardiovascular illness in drivers, such as heart attacks or sudden cardiac arrests.

This recently SAFER associated project aims to evaluate and enhance existing artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) algorithms originally developed for 12-lead ECG, ensuring their effectiveness in detecting sudden cardiovascular diseases in single-lead ECG and/or heart rate measurements. Additionally, the project will assess the impact of measurement noise and disturbances, comparing various strategies for noise filtering.

Throughout the project, we will gain insights into the possibility of accurately recording cardiac-related vital parameters in vehicles and how to leverage this information to identify critical cardiovascular conditions. The project is funded by Skyltfonden with 430,000 SEK and is scheduled to conclude in August 2024. Anna Sjörs Dahlman, VTI, and Research Area Director for Road User Behavior at SAFER will lead the study. Chalmers is also a partner in the project, which directly follows the SAFER pre-study SynCOPE.