Enabling driver feet gestures using capacitive proximity sensing

Due to driver assistance systems and the trend of industry towards automated driving, the hands and feet of the driver in a vehicle require less intervention, becoming even idle. Recent gesture recognition focuses on hand interaction. This paper provides feet gesture interaction. Many gesture recognition systems rely on computing intensive video systems, causing privacy concerns. Furthermore, these systems require a line of sight and therefore a visible interior design integration. Our system proves that invisibly integrated capacitive proximity sensors can do this as well. They do not cause privacy issues and can be integrated under non-conductive materials. Therefore, there is no impact on the design of the visible interior. Our proposed solution distinguishes between four feet gestures. There is no limitation to feet movement. Further, we prove the functionality of the system in an evaluation with six participants, using a prototypical mock-up of a vehicle legroom.