Detecting Driver Distraction Using Smartphones

Cell phone usage while driving is a major distraction. Due to the number of accidents that are related to cell phone use while driving, laws have been introduced making the use of a cell phone while driving illegal in several jurisdictions. In this paper, we address a fundamental problem of distinguishing the driver from passengers using ubiquitous camera feature of cell phones to determine the position of the camera (hence, cell phone) in a vehicle. Compared with the state-of-the-art solutions, a key property of our solution is non-intrusiveness, i.e., enabling driver phone detection without relying on any particular situations, events, and dedicated hardware devices. Our system only utilizes the camera functionality of a smartphone. Images captured from a camera are compared with reference images by applying image registration methods, making a comparison. Through extensive experimental results and analysis, we demonstrate that our methodology can provide accurate localization of a smartphone, thus effectively distinguishing driver from passengers.