Sitting Postures and Electrocardiograms: A Method for Continuous and Non-Disruptive Driver Authentication

Introduction

Identification and verification of drivers is a topic that is increasingly attracting attention for several reasons and for different fields of application in the transportation domain. It can be used for safety systems continuously monitoring the health condition and alertness of a driver (for example a biological state observation system checking if the driver is tired or drunken). With the emergence of car sharing vendors offering different account types for rental, a problem to be solved is the rate of insurance due for the driven route. The insurance rate should not only be bound to the car and calculated on a yearly basis, but should be linked to the driver and his/her personal skills. The amount payable by a driver can be dynamically calculated based on the driven kilometers and on his/her style of driving. Driven distance can be obtained from the CAN-bus of a car or calculated from available GPS data, and the profile of a driver can be formed from sensors continuously monitoring the emotional state of a driver and/or the on-board diagnostic functions of a vehicle. An important requirement for this system is that it has to be effective in operation all the time and can also be able to authenticate a driver as he/she might use different cars.

An example showing that the topic of authentication is relevant is given by the recent developments of (Yubico, 2010). Their “YubiKey” is a USB-key for secure, easy and affordable access to different applications which also includes an authentication service. Yubico suggests using the YubiKey as a stronger and better alternative to smart cards. Automobile manufacturer have tried smart cards as method for driver authentication in the past; unfortunately, their replacement is very expensive and, more important, cards are prone to hacking – the car domain is nowadays looking for improved, universal applicable solutions.