Smartphones are becoming more and more popular and not only for younger people. Contrary to traditional mobile phones they are often equipped with sensors for acceleration and yaw rates, they have GPS modules as well as cameras with high definition resolution. Additionally they have high-performance processors that enable the execution of CPUintensive tools directly on the phone. The wide distribution of these smartphones enables researchers to get a high numbers of users for such studies.
The paper shows and demonstrates a software app for smartphones that is able to record different driving situations leading up to crashes. Therefore all relevant parameters from the sensors, camera and GPS device are saved for a given duration if the event is triggered. The complete configuration is independently adjustable to the relevant driver and all events were sent automatically to the research institute for further processing. Direct after the event, interviews with the driver can be carried out and important data regarding the event itself can be documented.
The presentation shows the methodology and gives a demonstration of the working progress as well as first results and examples of the current study. In the discussion the advantages of this method will be discussed and compared with the disadvantages.