Moto's "polite" cellphone adapts to driving conditions

You may not want your cellphone telling you whether it's safe to take a call, but with evidence mounting about the dangers of DWT, the phone might just be a better judge of conditions than you are. Motorola is developing a prototype "polite" cellphone designed to determine your circumstances and route calls accordingly. If you're parked, all calls will come through; if you're cruising, calls on your whitelist will come through, while others are routed to voicemail. If you're in rough conditions — determined by factors like frequent braking and turning — all calls are sent to voicemail. And if your airbag deploys, the phone automatically dials 911. Of course, the phone doesn't stop you from making calls, so it doesn't take over completely. But it could help you avoid the temptation to answer every call, regardless of road conditions.

[gorillak @ Dec 19th 2005 1:37AM]

oh this is good... so instead of just flippin the phone open, i get to crash while trying to punch in my VM code. :) - Here a thought... maybe people crash while talkin on the cell phone because of the conversation they are having and not the act of talkin on the phone itself. Throw em all in that can't walk and chew gum category.

[Gus Jenkins @ Dec 19th 2005 1:37AM]

Well, you could turn the phone off while driving, and pretty much accomplish the same thing.

[Uy Tran @ Dec 19th 2005 1:37AM]

When are they adding a dispense coffee option?

[El_Duc @ Dec 19th 2005 1:37AM]

not much of a market for that here in Australia - using the phone handset whilst driving is illegal. The makers of hands-free devices are happy-chaps - although recent media coverage would indicate that hands-free might soon be banned as well.

anyway, with the current cost of Fuel and Mobile Phone calls - who can afford to do both at once?

[Justin Winokur @ Dec 19th 2005 1:37AM]

Two things

what people need to learn to do is to pickup and say, "i'll call you back" that is what i do becuase i have no choice when i am driving a manual car (which i often do).

I think this would be cool to incorperate and not tell anybody. That would be the best

[Mykarol @ Dec 19th 2005 1:37AM]

Not a great idea, 911 is a good feature but the rest is definitely going to cause a lot of problems.

[Google Nazi @ Dec 19th 2005 1:37AM]

So long as certain features could be customized in the options menu. Otherwise I don't care. It is called voicemail, and caller ID. I won't drive and talk on the cell phone because It is a little hard to carry a conversation and pay detailed attention to traffic at the same time. Just learn to ignore the phone when it rings. It isn't like pringles chips, you can control your self!

[Jeremy Wood @ Dec 19th 2005 1:37AM]

Where is the feature that sends an electric shock to the gonads if the user attempts to merge into me when they are on their celly?

[Rusty @ Dec 19th 2005 1:37AM]

Once again we have the "nanny state" taking over.
Yes it is a company trying this out, but they are because of increasing pressure from idiots with nothing better to do trying to dictate how we live our lives. After they get cellphones banned when driving, the next thing will be eating, or listening to music, or talking with someone else while driving, or just banning driving alltogether! PERSONAL responsibility has been taken out of our lives and has been replaced by liability lawsuits!
You know, for all these idiots who want to ban
driving,eating,talking etc....we already have
existing laws on the books...The names vary from state to state but it's called C&I, CARELESS and imprudent driving. You do something stupid while driving, you get a ticket, and are held RESPONSIBLE for your actions. No one wants to be blamed for anything anymore...it's always someone elses fault.
There is an Eagles song that says it best...
"Get over it"!

[Kai @ Dec 19th 2005 1:37AM]

Sounds like dumb technology to me. People should just not answer their phones while driving. I cant tell you how many time I have almost been hit by the mom in the SUV cause she is on her phone.

Also anyone notice that this guys thumb is bending painfully back?

[Hyena_The_Pirate @ Dec 19th 2005 1:37AM]

Yo ho ho!!
Well said Rusty! aye, ye hit it right on the head..
man when did we all become such a society of lily livered yellow-streaked babes in swaddling, needing to have our little hands held every step of the way through life.
Fer cryin out loud, call me heartless, but i dont care one good spit into the wind about the figures for 'deaths caused by cell phone distraction car accidents' because in me harsh opinion, it's good riddance, and pass out the Darwin awards, they be deservin em. Ye've been told, and told agin and twice fer sure, that driving and talkin on a cell phone be just like drivin with ol' capn morgan or Jim Bean..
we dont be needin someone to SELL us a product to restrict us from usin the cell phone to make US safer by gum, grow some chest hairs people and learn to NOT be so needy!
aye, if it werent for me eye-patch, i'd drive a car, thats fer sure, and i bet ye a dubloon per a six pence that i sure as hell wouldnt be needin someone else to help me control my 'cell phone addiction' in the car..
besides, i prefer to let all me booty calls go to voice mail, where i can select the best oppurtunities at my convenience ;)

aha! get it?? "BOOTY" calls???! i'm a pirate! get it?? yo ho, sometimes i slay meself.

[Phil @ Dec 19th 2005 1:37AM]

As a cyclist who has endured some near misses from handset-distracted drivers, I would welcome any measure that seperates these idiots from their phones.

I agree that people should assume some responsibility for their lives, but I can't control the other idiots on the roads, and a twit-controlled rolling car is a dangerous thing.

[Walter Cho @ Dec 19th 2005 1:37AM]

what if you are sitting in the passenger side... Does that still disable the phone? That's Annoying!

[Ken @ Dec 19th 2005 1:37AM]

At least in northern Virginia (US), I don't think the police care about distracted driving. If a person plows into another car or runs over a pedestrian because their phone call is more important than you are, the police write a report and send them on their way.

Several years ago, a van ran a red light and plowed into my car. The driver of the van told the officer "I was fixing my contact, and the light just changed red." The light was red for some time, there were witnesses who could confirm that, but the officer just nodded and wrote up a report. $1,200 later, my car was back on the road and I saw that same van at a shopping center. I really wish I could have "fixed my contact" and driven straight at his van.

If it's not cellphones... it's stereos, cheeseburgers, newspapers, or contacts.

[Samuel Lago @ Dec 19th 2005 1:37AM]

Good, good. I believe in the concepts of 'zones' which are basically areas which affect your mobile interface or bahaviour.

So if in a restaurant or cinema the mobile would automatically switch to silent or if by a bus stop would show the times of the bus, automatically of course

[fistpittingnork @ Dec 19th 2005 1:37AM]

#10:

"Also anyone notice that this guys thumb is bending painfully back?"

That's what happens when you do a hi-yah karate chop to the steering wheel at 75 miles per.




And does anybody else always read Hyena_the_pirate's posts in your head using an actual pirate voice? I think I might read his posts using the Spongebob Squarepants pirate voice..