The upcoming East African Safari Classic Rally is to use yellowcog’s Pilot physiological monitoring system. Three cars will be kitted out for the rally which starts 21st November 2013 and runs through to 29th November. The driver of each car will be monitored for the full duration over the 4100 kilometre course across Kenya and Tanzania. Just like at Le Mans we will be monitoring heart rate, breathing rate, core temperature and a host of other parameters such as g-forces.
The rally is an exciting and interesting next step for yellowcog as our products are being used primarily for driver safety. The cars are travelling vast distances and are isolated for long periods. The rally course is also inherently more dangerous than a race track since it is an open course with challenging terrain. The rally organisers are experts in dealing with these challenges and have a set of vehicles and helicopters that are used to respond to incidents. However, if a driver crashes and cannot be contacted it is impossible to know what condition they are in until visual contact is made. With Pilot the medics are now able to see a driver’s vital signs immediately and prioritise responses accordingly.
The driver wears a comfortable chest-band (or light-weight garment) underneath their usual clothing. The vital signs of the driver are transferred wirelessly to the matchbox-sized Pilot device mounted elsewhere in the vehicle. The information on each driver is displayed live in the medical helicopter and anywhere else with internet connectivity.