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Until the overlords at Google bestow their technocratic utopia of automation to every new vehicle leaving the factory, distracted driving will remain a problem in need of a solution, such as the one General Motors has in mind.
Autoblog reports GM is working on a three-way deal with Seeing Machines and Takata to install 500,000 cameras in its line of vehicles within a three- to five-year period. The cameras will track eye and head movements to determine if a driver is paying attention to the road or to the office BlackBerry, then alerting them so as to not miss the stop sign or other hazards.
Seeing Machine CEO Ken Kroeger says there could be other uses to the cameras, citing safety’s lack of sexiness. Such future uses could include anti-theft systems, ignition interlocks programmed to prevent a young driver from taking the car out past curfew, or apps that can trigger an action inside the vehicle while driving.
I’m guessing the pic for this post was shot in Canada? Cloudy skies, Timmy’s coffee, a Blackberry and a car speedo in KM/H?
That’s km/h, Smokey!
Hey there’s Timmys in Ohio now, as well. Though I’ve never been to one here.
What sort of car is that, a Focus?
Maybe its Cameron’s new French husband!
:P The name change is more symbolic in nature. At this time last year, I was on the second day of my journey to Seattle by bus, a move that would, in time, bring quite a few changes to my life, all for the better. Thus, the change is a culmination of that journey.
In fact, I wrote about it days after landing in the house of an Israeli auto mechanic just south of Downtown: http://insiderlouisville.com/opinion/dispatches-from-the-emerald-city-farewell-louisville-hello-seattle/
I will read that apres travaille!
Fun fact: The photos in that piece were shot by a BlackBerry Curve 8530 — the same model in the very Canadian photo here — using Virgin Mobile/Sprint’s network.
That network was horrible, as experienced first-hand from Fargo to Coeur d’Alene due to the lack of CDMA cell towers. I was happy that the bus I took through the second and final days of my journey west prior to Idaho had Wi-Fi.
What’s a BlackBerry, old-timer?
The BlackBerry was a smartphone before Apple and Google flipped the table on the smartphone game. Also: 36 (in 16 days) is “old”? :P
It’s like an 01 Nissan Pathfinder.
LOL ~
‘ crackberries ‘ were getting folks _shot_ in South Central L.A. when new , now we get in box fulls of them as scrap (E-Waste_ because The L.A.P.D. cannot be bothered to use such and ‘ old ‘ device =8-^ .
-Nate
Shameless plug for Tim Horton’s and BlackBerry.
Is that how TTAC is paying the bills :)
“then alerting them so as to not miss the stop sign or other hazards”
I’d rather it just pulled the car over, stopped the engine and then shot the driver through the head.
Could be an old pathfinder
I think you’re right. That digital area is where the analog clock face goes in the QX4.
IIRC, only certain lower trims got the white gauges in the Pathfinder?
Not sure. That would be the opposite strategy of the mid 90’s to 03 Maxima, which I think only had the white gauges on the midlevel SE model.
How am I supposed to look at the road ahead when the Churches on Crenshaw Blvd. are letting out ? .
Last time I foolishly drove by there mid Sunday , I nearly hit a parked car .
-Nate
@ Nate Too many land mines ,so I’m not going to expand on your comment. I do ,however, know exactly what your saying.
“You embarassin’ yourself, man, you’re a black man with a Chinese restaurant on Crenshaw.”
Glad at least _someone_ understands .
=8-) .
For those who don’t , give it a look some time , not for the Younger Set .
-Nate
What could possibly be less reliable than a GM ignition switch? Why, a GM ignition switch wired into a digital camera with face-recognition software, of course.
We have had Timmys here in Maine since 2000 or so I believe.
I despise phone use while driving. That being said-with the Blackberry I could fire off the rare text/email while driving without looking at the phone at all due to the keyboard layout.
With the iphone and other touchscreen phones I have had since I don’t even bother to try. And voice to text hates me. So whatever it is, it can wait.
Gag. The backup camera I have is nice, but come on people, why is it so hard to put the detritus down and drive the 2-ton projectile? Phones should come with HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey as standard saying, “I’m afraid I can’t do that Dave.” and rendering the phone inopperable.
Regardless of the epidemic of using mobile devices while driving, I’m incensed by the idea that a computer in the car is going to start throwing a fit whenever it decides I’m not paying enough attention.
I’m already unhappy that we have sensors and computer controls encouraging people to continue to be inattentive (with backup sensors, blind-spot monitoring, lane-deviation monitoring, etc). Now that we have this in place, people will simply rely on the buzzer to tell them when they haven’t paid enough attention to the road ahead.
I could easily see the warning buzzer further distracting the inattentive, extending the time it takes for the driver to refocus on the road.
There’s going to be a generation of drivers who will seek out ’90’s and 2000’s automobiles for the simple reason that there won’t be a computer constantly nagging them about their driving.
I wonder when the inevitable, “I cut the bloke off because my car didn’t beep” when switching from a car that has all this crap to one that doesn’t, as when borrowing another car, will happen.
I already notice the blond spot detection system in others’ Chrysler/VW mommy vans. I can see the lit triangle from a car length and a half away. It’s ridiculous.
Gimme a Large double/double!