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The objective of this study is to develop a Driving Fatigue Strain Index using fuzzy logic to analyze the risk levels of driving activity among road users. Driving fatigue is always related to the driving activity and has been identified as one of the vital contributors to the road accidents and fatalities in Malaysia. Therefore, the present paper introduces the use of fuzzy logic for the development of strain index to provide the systematic analysis and propose an appropriate solution in minimizing the number of road accidents and fatalities. The development of strain index is based on the six risk factors associated with driving fatigue; muscle activity, heart rate, hand grip pressure force, seat pressure distribution, whole-body vibration, and driving duration. The data is collected for all the risk factors and consequently, the three conditions or risk levels are defined as “safe”, “slightly unsafe”, and “unsafe”. A membership function is defined for each fuzzy conditions. IF-THEN rules were used to define the input and output variables which correspond to physical measures. This index is a reliable advisory tool for providing analysis and solutions to driving fatigue problem, which constitutes the first effort toward the minimization of road accidents and fatalities.

Interactive evolutionary computation (EC) creates media contents that fit on a user; however, user's fatigue problem still remains. Takagi et al. proposed a framework of EC that evaluates media contents based on a user's physiological indices, and this technique is expected to solve the problem. In this study, we constructed an EC system that creates musical melody using listener's heartbeat intervals. Based on the constructed system, we proposed a method that creates media contents and presents them to a user automatically using blank. The constructed system and the proposed method have the possibility to reduce user's fatigue. Copyright © 2008 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.