Apple seems to have made something very good for bike riders

[moose8]

http://appleinsider.com/articles/14/04/22/apple-tech-takes-on-distracted-driving-blocks-users-from-texting-while-behind-the-wheel

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . too hard to do. The phone knows your location and it can be pretty accurately assumed that if you are moving faster than 5mph that you are in or on a moving vehicle.

The problem would be other people in the vehicle. How would it know whether you are riding or driving?

BBD

[bcroslin]

. . . too hard to do. The phone knows your location and it can be pretty accurately assumed that if you are moving faster than 5mph that you are in or on a moving vehicle.

The problem would be other people in the vehicle. How would it know whether you are riding or driving?

BBD

Read the article - it's addressed and completely possible. Now, I don't expect to see the technology rolled out unless the other phone manufacturers are on board but one can dream.

[spaced_ghost]

there's android apps that do that already.

[echelon_john]

6yo patent. It's there for when it's a regulatory mandate; they won't roll it out until then.

[Mark McM]

The phone knows your location and it can be pretty accurately assumed that if you are moving faster than 5mph that you are in or on a moving vehicle.

The problem would be other people in the vehicle. How would it know whether you are riding or driving?

... or if you're on a bus or a train?

The patent is interesting, but it is short on specifics. For example, how does the scenery analyzer work? Does it require that the camera be active all the time? Can it be foiled by placing something over the camera lens when you want to text and drive?

I suspect that this is a pre-emptive patent, rather than something they are actively working on.

[William]

6yo patent. It's there for when it's a regulatory mandate; they won't roll it out until then.

And then only as long as it takes for the first lawsuit from someone who was being chased by a roadrager and couldn't call the police because they were driving alone and the phone wouldn't let them make the call.


Hey, its possible.:)


William

[TimD]

6yo patent. It's there for when it's a regulatory mandate; they won't roll it out until then.

A detail: The patent itself is not 6 years old. The application might have been filed 6 years ago, the patent itself was more recently "issued".

Yes, it takes that long, believe it or not. This from firsthand experience, I have 4 issued and several others in the pipeline. They've all taken several years.

[vqdriver]

And then only as long as it takes for the first lawsuit from someone who was being chased by a roadrager and couldn't call the police because they were driving alone and the phone wouldn't let them make the call.


Hey, its possible.:)


William

all flavors of disabling phones that have been proposed, whether phone based or car based, have provisions that allow 911 calls.

from what i've read, the tech is already there. the hurdles will be in determining who's a driver and who's a passenger. i don't remember car mfg complaining about these proposals (although i wouldn't be surprised) but more the phone companies that are pushing back hard.