Vehicular driving pattern analysis: concepts, challenges, and future directions

Introduction Vehicular driving pattern analysis is important for improving road safety, driving efficiency, and intelligent transportation systems. The aim of this study is to analyze recent research on the major driver-behavior analysis tasks, which are driving pattern recognition, distraction detection, abnormal driving-behavior detection, driver profiling and identification, fuel-efficiency analysis, and driving-risk assessment. Methods The literature selection process was structured and included identification, screening, and eligibility. One hundred seventeen studies were used in this study, and 12 studies were selected for a detailed examination for comparative analysis. Results The studies analyzed have shown that driver-behavior analysis is becoming more popular with the use of machine learning, deep learning, sensor fusion, edge computing, and other new technologies. Existing approaches, however, are still scattered across behavioral tasks and encounter issues such as real-time processing, privacy preservation, scalability, model generalization, and integration of heterogeneous data. Discussion This study highlights the need for integrated and task-oriented approaches to address these challenges and support multiple behavioral assessments. The findings provide research directions on the development of scalable privacy-aware real-time driver-behavior analysis systems for connected and intelligent transportation environments.