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Butler in the Dashboard 1

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I look around and see a disturbing number of people who can't chew gum and walk at the same time, all of whom by some miracle with driver's licenses, and Microsoft wants to put a gadget in the dashboard which will allow these people to read their email while driving?

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Maybe M$ will only make email accessible while the car isn't in motion?
 
Actually, it will read the driver their e-mail and then nag them about their driving. Maybe they should call it the "Mother-in-law"! [roll2]

[sup]Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.[/sup][sup] ~George Bernard Shaw[/sup]
Consultant/Custom Forms & PL/SQL - Oracle 8.1.7 - Windows 2000
 
A couple of quotes from the two articles which illustrate a few dangerous notions:

From FITZGERALD: "Viswanathan said the idea is to have everything a driver needs made available..." What a driver needs most is to focus on the driving, and I don't see that being provided.

From FITZGERALD: "...like getting the latest quotes on your stock portfolio." Now who in world would consider that distracting. Sorry driver, but you just lost X dollars from your portfolio, oh and by the way, you're about to run a red light.

From FITZGERALD: "It's about karaoke in the car if karaoke will keep you from getting drowsy as you drive, ..." I guess the words will be shown in a HUD - clearly not a distraction.

And who would get distracted about getting an email from the boss while driving.

And from MILLER: "It's not a `You can stop worrying, the car will drive itself'," said Jeffrey Paniati, associate administrator for Federal Highway. "It's a `We'll help you drive.'" - You mean like how the systems on the A340 "help" the pilots fly that plane?

Technology is a wonderful thing. Now, if we could only be as smart as to how and where to apply that technology.

Good Luck
--------------
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein
 
Will the system dispense some sort of lolly / chocolate to me when I'm getting drowsy? A sugar fix will help! If so then that would be a great thing!

But seriously, I agree this seems like an extremely distracting use of technology. If I want to hear my voice messages, read my email etc I'll turn on my computer. If I want directions, I'll plan them before I leave. Unless this little beast of a computer actually dispenses food and coffee to keep you awake I think it may be too much - too distracting, and will probably take a significant amount of time for people to 'make a transition' to be able to use it safely.
 
Dumbest idea since the cell phone.
 
Considering that using a mobile phone whilst driving has been shown to cause a type of tunnel vision, even when a hands free kit is employed, and increases the risk of an accident I'd be amazed if something with a visual display was actually alowed to be used in cars. More than 30 countries now legislate against using phones whilst driving, I have a feeling they'd jump on this far, far quicker.
Well, as fast as governments have the ability to act anyway...

Rhys
 
...Something else to think about... your car is now running on a version of Windows. Now, who in this thread has ever had Windows crash when you were doing something important?

Ben
 
Just a note: None of that article really said much about the MS product, both people were IBM employees/researchers commenting on their own system (which I saw a little over a year ago with the voice/wakeup buzzer/etc already in it).

I'm not agreeing or disagreeing, just pointing out an inconsistency.

The wakeup thing is annoying as all. basically it detects when your eyes have closed for a certain small period of time and then rings this annoying buzzer to wake you back up.
Email is voice activated and so on.
You can lock/unlock/roll down the windows/etc via bluetooth abnd a webserver. They have a bluetoth watch that acts as a remote for it (i think radio volume and instant on were other things they included for bluetooth startup) and they had a website they could do that stuff with also (don't know how it connected).

I guess that gives an even greater danger to peoploe hacking your website. Ho hum, driving along at 80mph and why does the radio keep turning itserlf down and the doors are locking and unlocking and the windows are rolling up and down and on my god where did the road go...

As far as outlawing cell phones while driving, I think a deeper problem is driver training in general, and if I remember correctly I've seen studies that say eating while driving is more hazardous than talking on the phone.

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[sup]29 3K 10 3D 3L 3J 3K 10 32 35 10 3E 39 33 35 10 3K 3F 10 38 31 3M 35 10 36 3I 35 35 10 3K 39 3D 35 10 1Q 19[/sup]
Do you know how hot your computer is running at home? I do
 
Eating may well be more dangerous, as could be doing lipstick, reading a newpaper etc. I think the scarey thing is how many people you see on a mobile every day while driving. As a Motorbike rider I can't do either, but i do get a good view into vehicles, and I see, probably, five times more people using mobiles while driving than eating.

I cannot tell you how many people using mobiles veer across roads and don't check their mirrors blind spots when manouvering, but I avoid one doing this every day, 5 days a week, 52 weeks a year.

I think it's not simply what's dangerous, but how many people do it without thinking. A recent poll in the UK suggested that 90% of people questioned thought that using a mobile whilst driving was dangerous but only, approximately, 45% of those people thought they were dangerous using a mobile while driving. As they say, ignorance is bliss...

Rhys

Will code for food...
 
Tarwn:
Although all people are equal under the law, they are not equal in terms of skills and abilities. Some people, for example, are by genetics, by training or by temperment better drivers than others.

Typically, driver's licenses in the U.S. have driving categories and endorsements and restrictions. If a person thinks he has enough skills to use a cell-phone and drive simultaneously, then he should be required to prove it -- have him use that cell-phone while driving in an on-road driving test. If the examiner determines that the person in question has demonstrated the capability to use a cell-phone and drive, then the "cell-phone" endorsement will be encoded on his license. If the examiner determines that the person is incapable, the driver will be elegible for taking the test again in six months.

The licensing authorities can charge for the endorsement. The driver's testing can be performed by certified private testing organizations. Just like they do right now with commercial driver's licenses.

The caveat I would add is that the cell-phone must be a hands-free unit. But then, I drive a stick-shift, so I just barely have enough hands to go around now.

Want the best answers? Ask the best questions: TANSTAAFL!
 
Automobiles of the future will come with robot-drivers.
So we can all watch TV whilst driving.
 
It's not a stick shift - its a gearbox. :)
 
Wether or not cell phones make passable drivers (ie, the majority) worse isn't debatable, I was just throwing out a random thought on that I picked up somewhere.

If you think about it though, the worst vehicles to deal with on the road are probably SUVs. You can't see around them, they have more blind spots than most other cars on the road, and recently have become very popular with teens (especially in my area) who sometimes have bnever driven anything else besides that type of tank.

This may seem off topic, but what type of vehicle will these extra features most likely be put in first? I'd bet on luxury cars and SUVs until the price of the technology comes down. So while I don't really know the crash statistics concerning SUV's, I wouldn't be surprised to see them get even worse with more things to distract the already distracted or inexperienced drivers.

And if I had my choice of public civilian vehicles to be struck by, SUV's would be pretty far down the list.

So my guess is we're looking at an increase in the number of SUV related accidents and an overall increase in the average damages of accidents, which in turn causes a rise to vehicle insurance.

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[sup]29 3K 10 3D 3L 3J 3K 10 32 35 10 3E 39 33 35 10 3K 3F 10 38 31 3M 35 10 36 3I 35 35 10 3K 39 3D 35 10 1Q 19[/sup]
Do you know how hot your computer is running at home? I do
 
IntaGreater:
<off-topic>
<sarcasm>
The correct term is &quot;stick-shift&quot;, not &quot;gearbox&quot;.

A stick-shift is specifically a transmission with a manually-shifted gearbox.
</sarcasm>
</off-topic>


Tarwn:
In that case, I guess you're really glad the U.S. economy cooled off before Daimler-Chrysler started selling it's UniMog in an SUV version here (
And just imagine how many electronic toys could be stashed under a dashboard that big.

Want the best answers? Ask the best questions: TANSTAAFL!
 
Thats just wrong...
So when do they come out with the civilian version of a tank? I mean pull off the gun, install some turn signals and headlights, seatbelts, etc. The ultimate soccer vehicle, never worry about feeling accidents again...

[sub]01010100 01101001 01100101 01110010 01101110 01101111 01101011 00101110 01100011 01101111 01101101 [/sub]
[sup]29 3K 10 3D 3L 3J 3K 10 32 35 10 3E 39 33 35 10 3K 3F 10 38 31 3M 35 10 36 3I 35 35 10 3K 39 3D 35 10 1Q 19[/sup]
Do you know how hot your computer is running at home? I do
 
All:
For the benefit of Tarwn...

There was a T.V. show in the U.S. on either the Discover Channel or the Learning Channel which showed some guy in the U.K. tooling around the streets of a medium-sized city in a demilitarized light tank. Does anyone remember the details? I remember the episode, but not enough details to find a link -- maybe an episode of Extreme Machines?


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