DailyDirt: Smarter Cars On The Way (Not Smarter Drivers) (original) (raw)

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Cars used to be fairly simple mechanical devices that gave drivers the freedom to zip around a city, but now cars are much more technologically advanced gadgets — getting smarter and connecting with all kinds of other things (eg. sensors, phones, other cars, the internet). Pretty soon, cars could become our artificially-intelligent personal servants, helping us out with our daily tasks like KITT but without the turbo boost. Here are just a few steps towards every driver getting their own car sidekick.

• Unlocking your car with your phone via a ‘passive Bluetooth keyless entry system’ sounds pretty cool — just wait for your phone and your car to pair up wirelessly, and voila, you can hop into your car. (And if your phone is out of range, all the doors lock automatically, too.) Right now, this prototype only works with an Android phone and some custom Arduino hardware in the car (and there are probably a few security concerns for this hack, but who cares when your car opens for you automagically). [url]
• The US Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) says that mobile apps are making it easier for young adults (16-34yo) to drive less — by making carsharing and public transportation more convenient than ever before. Kids these days just want to get from point A to point B without disconnecting from Facebook… Just make sure to look up from your phone every so often as a safety check, folks. [url]
• A survey of car owners suggests that consumers might be more willing to use a self-driving car from a technology company like Google, Apple or Intel — rather than one from a traditional automaker. The survey question presumes self-driving cars are safe — so consumers probably aren’t quite ready yet to place their lives in the hands of a version 1.0 beta autonomous car. [url]

If you’d like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.

Filed Under: automaker, autonomous vehicle, cars, carsharing, keyless entry, mobile apps, prototype, self-driving car
Companies: apple, google, intel