Bridging Neuroscience and the Open Road: A Conversation with Veronika Wahlberg

How does human behavior impact automotive safety? Veronika Wahlberg, Sales Director Europe, brings a rare combination of neuroscience expertise and automotive experience to this challenge. In this interview, she discusses how her experience is shaping Neonode’s driver monitoring software.

The intersection of neuroscience and automotive engineering is shaping the next era of vehicle safety, shifting the focus from software alone to a deeper understanding of human behavior. As vehicles become increasingly advanced, the ability to interpret and respond to driver and occupant state in real time is becoming a defining factor in both safety and user experience.

To explore this further, we spoke with Veronika Wahlberg, Sales Director Europe at Neonode. With a background in neuroscience alongside extensive automotive experience, she brings a distinctive perspective to the development of next-generation in-cabin sensing solutions.

“Neuroscience provides a framework for understanding how drivers perceive, process and respond to information,” she explains. “In the automotive context, this allows us to move beyond surface-level detection and towards interpreting behavior in a more meaningful and actionable way.”

This shift is particularly relevant as driver monitoring systems evolve. Traditional approaches have focused on detecting individual signals such as eye gaze or head position. While these remain important, they represent only part of the picture. A more advanced approach combines multiple data points to build a more complete and contextual understanding of driver state and intent.

“In real-world driving, behavior is rarely driven by a single factor,” Veronika notes. “It is shaped by a combination of internal state and external conditions. Understanding this interplay is key to developing systems that can respond appropriately in different situations.”

By analyzing these signals together, Neonode’s software can more accurately determine human intent, rather than simply identifying isolated behaviors. This enables more timely, relevant and proportionate system responses which supports safer interactions between driver and vehicle.

“Drivers are more likely to accept and rely on systems that behave in ways that feel intuitive,” she says. “That requires aligning technology with how people naturally think and act, rather than expecting them to adapt to the system.”

Digital mirrors are a great example of where innovation needs to be both intuitive and reliable. OEMs understand that digital mirror systems enhance visibility and safety, but driver adoption is slow as the experience feels unnatural. Our approach uses head and eye tracking to dynamically adapt the mirror view to the driver. For drivers, that means a more responsive and natural user experience, which reduces cognitive load and therefore fatigue, especially in complex or changing driving conditions.

Veronika says "Rather than focusing solely on technical performance or regulatory compliance, there is a growing emphasis on how effectively systems reflect real human behavior, and we work closely with our partners to ensure all of these aspects are realized"

“Ultimately, the goal is not just to detect risk, but to understand it,” Wahlberg adds. “That understanding allows for more intelligent responses, which can contribute to safer and more supportive driving environments.”

As the automotive industry continues to evolve, the integration of neuroscience into system design offers a pathway towards more human-aware vehicles, where technology is not only responsive, but also contextually informed and aligned with the realities of human behavior on the road.

Veronika concludes "The biggest opportunity is to move beyond standalone features and think in terms of integrated, human-centric systems. By combining different sensing capabilities and tailoring them to the vehicle and use case, vehicles can become safer and provide a more intuitive driving experience. At Neonode, we’re focused on enabling that . We love to help our customers to bring a differentiated, future-ready vehicle to market while meeting the increasing demands of safety and regulation."

About Veronika Wahlberg

Veronika Wahlberg is the Sales Director Europe at Neonode, bringing a unique interdisciplinary background that blends a Master’s degree in Psychology and Neuroscience from LMU Munich with over a decade of automotive research and leadership. Her expertise is rooted in human factors, having conducted specialized research at the Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute and collaborated with OEMs like BMW and Volvo to study driver behavior and trust during autonomous handovers. She is fluent in six languages and today helps OEMs across Europe to integrate Neonode's advanced vehicle technologies and ensure they are not only compliant with safety regulations but also intuitively aligned with human capabilities.