You’re driving along, happy as can be, rocking out to some Journey, when suddenly, you feel a vibration against your body. Feels kinda good but oh no, wait, that’s a signal that there’s a car approaching on your left side so watch out and don’t get in an accident. Sound enticing — er, interesting? You’re in luck! Engineers at Yale are working on just such an invention.

As other carmakers have started to include various warning systems in their vehicles, from flashing mirrors to voices telling you pull over and get coffee, this seat vibration technology would physically alert drivers to impending danger.

By using vibrating motors and moveable cameras, Yale School of Engineering’s Associate Professor John Morrell tells Gizmag he thinks this new system will stand out in the crowd of overwhelming senors, alerts, beeps, whistles and other safety warning systems.

Preliminary testing “showed that the vibrotactile feedback improved drivers’ performance over that attained by using the rearview mirror alone” and also helped warn of vehicles.

Getting a massage while driving safely? Sounds good to me.

Vibrating driving seat warns of impending danger [Gizmag]

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