NextBase Vigil
November–December 2025
Designing an accessible aftermarket drowsiness detection system.
Scope:
Concept Development
UX research
Design
Context:
NUIs
Automotive
Problem Statement
Drowsy driving is involved in 21% of fatal crashes, yet the monitoring systems proven to prevent them are standard only in new and luxury vehicles.
Shift workers and commercial drivers are disproportionately involved in drowsiness-related accidents, and excluded from the market building solutions for them.
This is a crucial gap between technology, design, and distribution.
Goal Statement
Make the drive home safer for the people who need it most and can afford it least.
Solution
Vigil is a a concept partnership with NextBase for a retrofit DMS kit combining a smart dashcam, haptic steering wheel clip, and OBD-II connection, managed through a companion app that lets users build their own alert system.
Discover
Starting with NUIs,
landing on a safety crisis.
This project began with an interest in identifying an area where NUIs weren't just interesting, but genuinely necessary.
Driver safety, specifically driver drowsiness monitoring, emerged as the clearest answer.
Drivers can't self-assess
In the same study, however, drivers who felt only mildly tired were independently measured as moderately or severely impaired in three out of four cases. 75% chose to keep driving anyway.
Who's at risk
~40% of sleep-related collisions involve commercial drivers
Shift workers are twice as likely to fall asleep at the wheel compared to non-shift workers, per the National Sleep Foundation.
In a study of 2,170 trainee anaesthetists, 84% said they had felt too tired to drive home after a night shift.
57% had experienced a collision or near-miss making that drive.
The opportunity is abundant, but it lacks access.
80% of the US labor force commutes by car, and in-vehicle interventions have been shown to manage fatigue without impairing driving performance. So why is this still such a prevalent issue?
Define
Only solved on the business level.
Three gaps for Shift workers
Driver monitoring is a growing market, driven by fleet liability and government regulation.
No aftermarket path to effective DMS exists for someone who already owns a car. It lives inside new vehicles or fleet-installed systems.
Even aftermarket safety tech is rarely designed to be retrofitted, and alert options are often one-size-fits-all.
Buying a new car to access a safety feature isn't a realistic option for the demographic carrying the most risk.
Who's behind the wheel
Maria Flores, 41
Certified nursing assistant, single mother, 3–4 overnight 12-hour shifts per week.
Goal: Be fully present for her kids without making dangerous errors.
Need: Reassurance and safety, not another source of stress.
"I'm so tired I feel sick. My drive home at 7 AM is the most dangerous part of my day, but I have no choice because the kids need to get to school. Fancy high tech cars aren't meant for me."
Alex Chen, 24
Barista and waiter, double shifts, 2012 Honda Civic.
Goal: Get through the day without crashing. Save enough to eventually move on.
Need: Something that works with his old car and won't be another alarm he learns to ignore.
"New car safety features might as well be science fiction for me. I just blast the AC and hope I make it. I can't afford to think about this, but I also can't afford to crash."
Key insight
Neither Maria nor Alex are looking for luxury solutions. The product cannot be a burden, and it has to work with the car they already own.
How might we provide shift workers with a drowsiness detection system that meets them where they are financially, technically, and personally?
Ideation
Finding the right partner.
NextBase dashcams were well positioned to meet the identified needs.
Why not car manufacturers or wearables?
The pricing models and brand positioning of car manufacturers would undercut the accessibility goal and wearable solutions don't currently have viable products on the market.
Why NextBase?
NextBase has the lowest average price point among smart dashcams. Their iQ model is comparable to a Garmin Mini 3 at $99. Consumer-priced, not fleet-priced.
The NextBase iQ already includes camera-based monitoring, Guardian Mode, Emergency SOS, and Roadwatch AI. The infrastructure for a DMS is partially there.
The existing app already handles device pairing, account management, and settings, giving Vigil a home without requiring an entirely new product ecosystem.
Most aftermarket dashcams connect via OBD-II port and Bluetooth, the same mechanism used for most aftermarket car upgrades. No specialist installation required.
Building the alert system
Alert customization is the highest-impact design decision.
Market data identified three user demographics with meaningfully different needs and contexts. A single alert type won't reach all of them. The system needs to be layered.
Customizable pattern, intensity, and duration, delivered via a steering wheel clip. Subtle enough not to startle, configurable enough to be felt.
Tiered prompts that escalate with drowsiness level, from suggestions to active engagement tactics designed to combat micro-sleep.
Classic audio cues for users who find voice UI ineffective or distracting.
Deeper integrations for users who want full control over what happens when drowsiness is detected.
Product MVP
An infrared in-cabin camera with AI-powered attention analytics — tracking gaze, blink rate, head pose, and yawning — connected via OBD-II and Bluetooth to a companion app with multi-modal, fully customizable alerts.
Getting it into the car
Installation needed to stay under three steps.:
Mount the camera
Clip the haptic fob to the steering wheel
Plug in the OBD-II cable.
Hardware setup is complete before the app is even opened.
The app then walks users through pairing, permissions, and alert preferences in a single session.
Nextbase Vigil
A system that works through the familiar hardware of the dashcam and a companion app, bringing essential safeguarding features to demographics that need it most.
Outcome
Recovered trust +changed behavior
The dashboard and UI interventions directly fulfill the goal of making streaming's environmental impact visible, relevant, and actionable for the first time.
Happiness
Engagement
intent to change platform settings upon seeing the visualized impact
Retention
average motivation in users to adopt more sustainable digital habits.
Moving forward
01
User testing and design iteration
Evaluate engagement and track retention rate.
02
Adapt new features for the mobile app
Reach a broader audience and maintain platform consistency.
03
Build out flows for the Conscious Creator initiative
Explore the challenges, feature design, and reception.
04
Explore high-risk, high-impact features
Radio mode and accessible downloading were deprioritized for feasibility but warrant deeper research.