Updated:
12/28/2009 8:00:00 AM
iTECH: Another Kind of Cell Block
Suppliers Unveil Technology That Locks Down Mobile Handsets in Moving Vehicles
By Joe Howard
Managing Editor, TT Magazines
This article appears in the December/January issue of iTECH, published in the Dec. 21 & 28 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.
A person trying to chat or read and send text messages while driving could find his cell phone disabled, thanks to technology coming into the market.
Applications for commercial drivers are part of the mix of new products that address what many are saying is a rising safety issue: distracted driving. If people won’t voluntarily avoid using handsets while operating a motor vehicle, there are ways to render cellular connections inoperable, or at least report the driver’s activities to management.
The new technology was the focus of a Nov. 24 Federal Communications Commission forum with suppliers, regulators and others.
The basic functions are largely the same: When movement is detected by cell phones and other personal communication devices, outgoing text-messaging is shut down and incoming text and voice messages are saved until the motion has stopped. To prevent drivers from typing anyway, keypads are locked.
The Global Positioning System, accelerometers and Wi-Fi transceivers are among the technologies present in many smart phones that makes motion-tracking possible, John Geyer, vice president of business development for Aegis Mobility, Vancouver, British Columbia, told iTECH.
Voice calls also may be restricted. Certain programs direct inbound calls to voice mail or greet them with a message informing callers that the subscriber is driving and cannot accept calls.
None of the systems blocks outbound 911 emergency calls, and most of the programs can be tailored to permit at least some inbound calls.
Illume Software, Concord, Mass., permits calls from selected numbers on its IZUP (“eyes up”) program. And Aegis’s DriveAssist sends an audio alert when messages from selected contacts arrive.
In some cases, hands-free calling is an option. ZoomSafer, Reston, Va., automatically sets certain handsets’ “convenience key” so drivers can quickly launch hands-free calling before hitting the road, said Chief Executive Officer and founder Matthew Howard.
“We don’t want you to take your hands off the wheel,” he said. “We don’t want you touching the device, or even looking at it.”
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