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NHTSA and DOT Want Your Car To Be Able To Disable Your Cellphone Functions
savuporo writes "The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Department of Transportation are considering technological solutions for people to stop using their cellphones while driving. Proximity detectors or requiring physical link with the car are the solutions under the scope. From the article: 'NHTSA wants automakers to make it impossible to enter text for messaging and internet browsing while the car is in motion, disable any kind of video functionality and prevent text-based information such as social media content or text messages from being displayed.' Obviously these regulations would need to go beyond cellphones, as laptop, tablet or any other gadget with a 3G data connection or even on a wi-fi hotspot made by your phone would be equally distracting."
passenger - do you want to restrict them, too?
So how would this proposed system distinguish between the driver using a phone and a passenger using a phone? It's not reasonable to forbid every passenger (who's not driving and has no need to not be distracted) from using any device while someone else is driving.
They're doing it all wrong. You can't solve a social problem with technological features.
There's no way you can make a car that will stop someone from tapping on their ipad, or putting on their makeup.
If you try, they'll just get pissed off, disable the feature, and do it even more to spite you.
The solution is to fix the culture to make it socially unacceptable.
Have the law enforcement officers doing their job.
Jail time for any driver caught texting while in motion.
Actually a reasonable GPS system already stores the map internally......just sayin. The only reason we have to stream maps is up until now we couldnt fit them on the device trivially.
Good-bye
It's 2014. You enter your car. Your watch stops -- it poses too much of a distraction. Mandatory reaction time enhancing drugs are automatically injected into your blood as you turn the ignition.
The car revs once, but doesn't move. A breathalyzer test is administered automatically by the car, followed by a urine test and a routine vision screening. Small electrical signals are passed through the chair to test your reflexes while a brain scan is run to check for any impure thoughts or intentions.
Finally, drive mode is unlocked. Your maximum speed is set by your insurance provider -- a leisurely 10mph. An artificial intelligence watches you drive your car via. video link to monitor your driving patterns. Your cellphone is disabled.
Time to hit the open road.
If I were a cop, I'd be happy to use this tech to stop everyone from talking about or recording me assault people. Imagine how useful this technology would be to dictators. Well done Obama. Not only have you just created a data trove for organized crime to blackmail every US citizen, you are about to create the technology that helps dictators repress rebels.
I think getting everyone a personal Chauffeur is the answer. Fixes the unemployment problem and the cell phone problem. Well other then the chauffeur texting but that's easily solved with electric shocks.
can you still call 911 if your phone gets disabled and you're involved in some sort of accident (or you witness one)?
Modern GPS devices also pull in real-time traffic information to route it's users around traffic jams, accidents or other problems.
Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
Fitting a map of a reasonably sized area on a mobile device has been possible for a very long time. For instance, the UK section of OpenStreetMap is reasonably complete and takes up only around 500MB, which has been easily within the capabilities of a low cost mobile device for 5+ years now, which is to say longer than most map streaming services have been around.
The only real reason for streaming is that it lets people download and install an app quickly, and provides for seamless map updates. Neither of these reasons is going away any time soon.
Unfortunately, I have to side with NHTSA since I'd rather have my personal space invaded by a law than I would have it invaded by someone's ton and a half SUV because they were texting some cat picture instead of driving.
I don't have much faith in solutions like this because it's one of those problems which are social problems, not technological ones. If we disregard the technological feasibility of this, for the sake of argument, we're going to have people who are going to look for ways to circumvent this measure (and they will find it, have no worries about that). On top of that, any car and phone which isn't equipped with such a system still allows for people to call/text while driving.
A much better solution to this type of problem in my opinion is to raise awareness, make the whole thing punishable with a fine and for repeat offenders include a revocation of the drivers license, and actively enforce it. In the beginning you'll have people who will blatantly ignore these measures, but once they start getting hit with fines most of them will stop. And just like with parking fines, you'll have people who blatantly ignore the law, as with any other kind of restriction they feel that doesn't apply to them, which is where the revocation of the license comes into place.
On my morning commute which often involves 20km/h freeway "happiness", I've seen plenty of people use non-technological means to distract them from the task at hand. People reading the newspaper while driving, doing crossword puzzles, having breakfast, doing their make-up, etc etc etc. Hell, I've even seen someone miss a green light because they were too busy playing with their kids (an admirable feat, just not in traffic). You don't solve those kinds of things with a bit of electronics in the dashboard.
It's not the calling and texting that is the problem, that's just a symptom of the underlying problem. The problem is that people aren't paying attention as they're hurtling down the road at breakneck speeds. There's no chip you can place in the dashboard that makes people pay attention to what they're doing.
Want? It's not a question of "want". It's a question of safety, expediency and convenience.
Why, next time I stuff someone in the trunk of my car I won't even have to find and take their phones. Just think how much time and hassle this would save.
However, an internet connection is great for getting up to date maps...
they want to sell in car phones and entertainment systems.
disable all tablets, smartphones etc in car-> you have to buy bolted in tablets from the car manufacturer.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
Not.
A.
Technology.
Problem.
Make using a mobile phone punishable by confiscating the car immediately (as it is in the UK for driving uninsured) and a mandatory appearance in court, punishment being revocation of license.
Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
Near the end TFA suggests detecting when the driver is using the phone but not the passenger. Just brilliant, now we'll have drivers leaning into the passenger seat texting.
You shouldn't be doing either as they disrupt other people's enjoyment of the film, but one-sided conversations are demonstrably significantly more difficult to ignore and thus annoying.
Rgds
Damon
http://m.earth.org.uk/
Like drunk driving. I don't know about where y'all are, but driving drunk is a step above child molestation where I am.
It's just right now, lots of people are doing it, so there's a safety in a herd.
Yes, accept that the same rules (no problems if income is large, if political power is great) that apply to DD apply to "driving-while-texting,"
Ack!
Wimp. Start out with hamburgers, add the soda and fries once you've got that down, and you'll be juggling chainsaws on the Interstate in no time!
How many of you have received a check from the insurance company to replace a vehicle that was totaled as a direct result of phone use? I have. Trust me...hanging upside down, covered in broken glass, does not make for a fun afternoon.
You cannot multitask nearly as well as you think you can. You might want to look out the windows once in a while, rather than looking at the phone. Unlike the bimbo that t-boned me.
If you self-important phone users would just put the goddamn phone down and actually drive the car, we wouldn't need initiatives like this.