Headset or no, talking on the phone while driving can be dangerous -- either to
you or to your
license. Various states have various bits of legislation indicating what is and is not allowed while in motion, but what if you want to have somewhat more specific controls over your kids or workers? That's the idea behind Aegis Mobility's DriveAssist (not to be confused with BMW's
Drive Assist), described as a sort of nannified assistant for people on the go. Using GPS it determines the user's "driving context," disabling incoming and outgoing calls and texts and holding messages to deliver later. It's an interesting idea, and given the
risks of texting while driving in particular it's a good one, but we wonder what happens if you're on a bus or sitting in the passenger seat.
[Via
textually.org]
posted Oct 14th 2008 8:27PM
Crippled phone or not, she's still going to put her makeup on, and that's 50% of the distraction...
Another 50% if you consider the male drivers staring at her while driving...
Don't forget the Coffee
I was going to say.... driving assistant may cripple your phone while driving.... but running that light and getting rammed on the driver's side because you're doing your makeup while driving cripples your legs.....
My hand in her lap is another 50% distraction.
How can you expect someone to be a responsible driver when they can't even select a proper brand mobile... motorola? talk about sub-standard UI, and that matching lipstick...
It goes to show that Motorola will do whatever it takes to sell a phone, based on pink?
Apple would never stoop to such a low level...
Of course they wouldn't iEye, they're ALREADY at that level.
I need to shave and she needs to help me with my lipstick.
I'd cripple her!
Wait, let me try this again.
@iEye
You're so right iEye, only a shitty company would release thier products anything other than black or white.
In other news, I just bought a new Yellow iPod Nano!
I just accept the iPhone's helpful advice to go into airplane mode when I connect it to the FM transponder. Easy peezy.
Whoa. I've always said FM transmitter, but transponder sounds so much cooler! I'ma gonna start saying that!
Alright Barry and Bill, move along now..
"Transponder" is a misnomer in this case... that is actually a device that receives and immediately re-sends a signal/transmission. In the west, they're known as [radio] repeaters because they allow radio stations and law enforcement (and in my case, forest rangers) to communicate over mountainous terrain.
Also what happens when you're being kidnapped and are stuck in the trunk? Eep... no thanks...
its going to be even more distracting trying to figure out why your phone isn't working.
*sigh* does anyone else feel that there should just be a lane for distracted drivers? then if they crash, its like darwin was right
admittedly that would take cash, but it may be worth it...
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/dot_creates_new_lane_for_reckless?utm_source=slate_rss_1
"Headset or no, "
No what?
No Headset... wow, and I thought I couldn't understand some of Engadgets slang
@ Ross:
"Headset or no," is not Engadget slang. It's called "English."
His brain was expecting "headset or not"
The lack of t threw him off.
Didn't I read this yesterday or something...?
I think you read this this morning:
http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/10/14/aegis-mobilitys-driveassist-cripples-your-phone-when-you-drive/
Engadget, what gives? That's one hell of a lag.
LOL, same reaction here, I was like "wtf, am I go crazy from reading to much engadget?" That is really weird that there should be a lag like that - but it's also abnormal, so today you live.
(looks over)
"hey baby you puttin some of that lipstick for da......"
Why just put my phone on vibrate and ignore it when I can pay for a service to essentially do the same thing!!!
You'll wish you didn't have that feature when running from some serial killer in your car and trying to phone police to help you down the way. I can see it in the next scary movie. "Damn, we have to find a place to pull over and call the cops."
I would have typed a funny comment here but the image keeps on distracting me...
That was a funny comment you typed!
What I don't get about these phone disabler things is how it works when passengers try to use their phones. Are they not allowed either?? And what if they're on bus?
Cab?
Train??
And how is this on the battery life of a phone? Constantly having GPS on would be draining.
It says on there website that passengers can override this feature.
Making the bigger question, what good is this really if you can override it at any point?
here in orange county, CA i actually see more people using cell phones to the ear since they have enforced the cell phone law.
I would love to see what happens when she is in the middle of an emergency and needs to make a call because her psycho ex boyfriend is chasing her.
I think the picture is telling us that the solution is for women shouldn't be able to drive.
In all seriousness, I can see it being effective even if just sending incoming calls to voicemail and holding text messages. I know a lot of people who will answer the phone but not actually dial while driving.
Oh, and for people who attempt to text while driving, well the just need to hit a wall, as long as the wall wont be hurt.
Or better yet, as soon as they send/receive a call or text message, the car explodes! That'll show em.
Damn straight. Using a cell phone while driving is as distracting as drunk driving. If she's willing to be that flippant with someone else's life, she's a 0 anyway. There are 6.5 billion people on this planet: time to cull the herd.
Frustrated because of the loss of the ability to text, the lady began to apply makeup. There were no survivors. Next up, the dangers of putting too many stamps on a letter! Details at eleven.
Riiight...because passengers never use cell phones. It's always the driver.
And, of course, the only way to move at high-speed is in a car. A bus or train could never go as fast as a car.
Pass.
Ahh...looks like quiksilv3r beat me to the punch. At least there are two guys on this board arguably smarter than the employees at Aegis Mobility. =)
I can see the Baudelaire orphans trapped in Count Olaf's car on the train tracks with a cell phone...
WHY ISN'T IT WORKING?!
Violet, try rebooting it or something!
*train whistle blows loudly and it comes around the bend*
this is a great idea! that way when your dad is being rushed to the hospital after suffering a heart attack in his old age trying to mow the lawn, you won't get any messages or frantic phone calls from your mom because you're safely not able to use your phone whilst driving to go see your friend who is at LEAST another 30 minutes away.
Great idea....
Fuck that shit. I'll handle the ladyfriend.
Her hair looks nice.
heres a link to the story on CNN, you can disable the motion sensing part if you are a passenger. which makes it pretty much useless for keeping your kids safe. any kid old enough to drive that has a phone can figure out how to disable something like this. great idea though, hope it gets better.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/ptech/10/14/cellphones.driving.ap/index.html?eref=rss_tech
HOT!!!!
and BTW this idea is plain stupid! It's more dangerous than driving and talking on the phone. What if you had to receive an emergency call.
Perhaps if Engadget gave you all the details, or if you were smart enough to Google DriveAssist and read an AP article or two, you would know that there IS the ability to turn it off if you are the passenger and callers DO get the option to tell the system it is an emergency call so that you can receive it. And I take offense to the comment about the intelligence of Aegis employees, because my dad is one.
So, what's to keep you from turning it off when you are the driver?
Sounds to me like you might as well just turn your phone off? Would that not give the same affect? Why the need for this GPS stuff... if it still is up to the human to decide... maybe I'm missing something though, because I have not looked any further than this article.
Yes, the reason I didn't Google "DriveAssist" is because I have teh dumb. *eyeroll*
The concept was stupid when we all thought it wasn't optional. Now that we know it can be disabled at will, it's stupid AND pointless. You're not doing the intellectual reputation of Aegis Mobility any favors here.