Skip to footer

General Motors may soon offer cars that detect distracted drivers

Many companies and organizations have tried to but the brakes on distracted driving, but General Motors may one-up all of them thanks to new in-car technology designed to detect distracted motorists. 

|
David Goldman/AP/File
The logo for General Motors decorates the entrance at the site of a GM information technology center in Roswell, Ga.

Distracted driving is a hot topic these days. Beyond the usual distractions of burgers, babies, and blush, now we have to deal with smartphones, infotainment systems, and a host of other bright, shiny things.

Many companies and organizations have tried to put the brakes on distracted driving, from app-makers to cell phone makers to government agencies. A few automakers have jumped into the fray with ads that encourage drivers to put down their devices, but General Motors may one-up all of them thanks to new in-car technology designed to detect distracted motorists.

According to CNBC, the technology will come from an Australian firm called Seeing Machines. It will take the form of a series of cameras paired with facial recognition software -- kind of like the software that Facebook uses to auto-tag your friends in photos, but in this case, it'll take note of things like the rotation of the driver's head and how often he/she blinks. That will help the system determine whether a driver is looking at the road, at a cell phone, or even nodding off. If the situation proves dire enough, the system could theoretically slow the vehicle and force the driver to pull over -- not unlike a certainattention-powered car we've seen before.

General Motors has contracted with Seeing Machines to buy up to 500,000 of the camera systems over the next three to five years. There's no word yet on pricing or how it might be offered to consumers, but given the size of the potential order, we'd assume it will debut as part of a safety package upgrade on select GM models.

The good news is that the Seeing Machines' systems can do more than just combat distracted driving (though frankly, that would be plenty in our book). They could also be used to deter auto theft by disabling vehicles if the person in the driver's seat isn't an authorized user. It might also allow drivers to activate apps, navigation, and other tools, with just a simple glance.  

The bad news is that the cameras may represent another small erosion of privacy. If they're paired with soon-to-be-mandatory event data recorders (aka "black boxes") on automobiles, they could provide personal data to judges and juries during court cases. And if insurance companies tap into the systems using gadgets like Progressive's Snapshot, they could cause your insurance rate to climb.

And in the middle, somewhere between good and bad, there's the fact that Seeing Machines' devices will ultimately be made by Takata -- the same Takata that produced millions upon millions of flawed airbag systems, triggering recalls around the globe. We have no reason to believe that these new systems will be anything less than perfect, but the timing of the announcement is unfortunate.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to General Motors may soon offer cars that detect distracted drivers
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/In-Gear/2014/0903/General-Motors-may-soon-offer-cars-that-detect-distracted-drivers
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe