Aegis Mobility's DriveAssist cripples your phone when you drive

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]

[nerdtalker @ Oct 14th 2008 8:30PM]

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...

[Ayman @ Oct 14th 2008 8:47PM]

Don't forget the Coffee

[High Ranks make you sterile @ Oct 14th 2008 9:00PM]

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.....

[Flashpoint @ Oct 14th 2008 9:31PM]

My hand in her lap is another 50% distraction.

[iEye @ Oct 14th 2008 9:39PM]

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...

[Valicore @ Oct 14th 2008 9:42PM]

Of course they wouldn't iEye, they're ALREADY at that level.

[BigD145 @ Oct 14th 2008 9:58PM]

I need to shave and she needs to help me with my lipstick.

[Zorque @ Oct 14th 2008 10:11PM]

I'd cripple her!

Wait, let me try this again.

[Hotpants @ Oct 14th 2008 10:30PM]

@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!

[Barry @ Oct 14th 2008 8:33PM]

I just accept the iPhone's helpful advice to go into airplane mode when I connect it to the FM transponder. Easy peezy.

[bill @ Oct 14th 2008 10:24PM]

Whoa. I've always said FM transmitter, but transponder sounds so much cooler! I'ma gonna start saying that!

[jabber @ Oct 15th 2008 12:06AM]

Alright Barry and Bill, move along now..

[tim @ Oct 15th 2008 1:44AM]

"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.

[Trent @ Oct 14th 2008 8:38PM]

its going to be even more distracting trying to figure out why your phone isn't working.

[Patrick R @ Oct 14th 2008 8:38PM]

*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...

[Reader @ Oct 14th 2008 9:44PM]

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/dot_creates_new_lane_for_reckless?utm_source=slate_rss_1

[Bobfromvegas @ Oct 14th 2008 8:39PM]

"Headset or no, "

No what?

[Ross @ Oct 14th 2008 9:15PM]

No Headset... wow, and I thought I couldn't understand some of Engadgets slang

[EricC @ Oct 14th 2008 9:30PM]

@ Ross:

"Headset or no," is not Engadget slang. It's called "English."

[ethana2 @ Oct 14th 2008 9:44PM]

His brain was expecting "headset or not"
The lack of t threw him off.

[Sarig @ Oct 14th 2008 8:40PM]

Didn't I read this yesterday or something...?

[iamdigitalman @ Oct 14th 2008 8:57PM]

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.

[Valicore @ Oct 14th 2008 9:15PM]

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.

[FotoGenetix @ Oct 14th 2008 8:40PM]

(looks over)
"hey baby you puttin some of that lipstick for da......"

[Chris McDowell @ Oct 14th 2008 8:50PM]

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."

[IndiaTech @ Oct 14th 2008 8:51PM]

I would have typed a funny comment here but the image keeps on distracting me...

[ED @ Oct 14th 2008 8:59PM]

That was a funny comment you typed!

[kellogs @ Oct 14th 2008 8:53PM]

Why just put my phone on vibrate and ignore it when I can pay for a service to essentially do the same thing!!!

[quiksilv3r @ Oct 14th 2008 8:54PM]

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.

[Brendan @ Oct 14th 2008 10:03PM]

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?

[raymond @ Oct 14th 2008 8:57PM]

here in orange county, CA i actually see more people using cell phones to the ear since they have enforced the cell phone law.

[JP @ Oct 14th 2008 9:00PM]

Also what happens when you're being kidnapped and are stuck in the trunk? Eep... no thanks...

[thedesolate1 @ Oct 14th 2008 9:14PM]

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.

[grull27 @ Oct 14th 2008 9:17PM]

I think the picture is telling us that the solution is for women shouldn't be able to drive.

[Valicore @ Oct 14th 2008 9:19PM]

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.

[Valicore @ Oct 14th 2008 9:20PM]

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.

[bill @ Oct 14th 2008 10:32PM]

Or better yet, as soon as they send/receive a call or text message, the car explodes! That'll show em.

[Valicore @ Oct 15th 2008 4:03AM]

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.

[lorddshadow @ Oct 14th 2008 9:30PM]

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.

[EricC @ Oct 14th 2008 9:33PM]

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.

[EricC @ Oct 14th 2008 9:34PM]

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. =)

[ethana2 @ Oct 14th 2008 9:47PM]

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*

[daniel @ Oct 14th 2008 11:27PM]

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....

[MyHeadisFed @ Oct 15th 2008 12:31AM]

Fuck that shit. I'll handle the ladyfriend.

[Steve @ Oct 15th 2008 5:53AM]

Her hair looks nice.

[Mick @ Oct 15th 2008 5:56AM]

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

[Str1ker @ Oct 15th 2008 8:36AM]

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.

[Sam @ Oct 15th 2008 11:17AM]

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.

[Matt Smith @ Oct 15th 2008 1:01PM]

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.

[EricC @ Oct 15th 2008 5:29PM]

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.