(Photo credit: Oregon Department of Transportation/Flickr)
Distracted driving is now a major factor behind many automobile collisions, overtaking fatal accidents caused by intoxicated driving in Ontario. While distracted driving have become steeper and police are thinking creatively to nab people in the act, GM is taking it a step further.
A report by the Financial Times says the automobile company is looking to install cameras supported by algorithms that track your eye and head movements. This technology will be able to formulate a 3D image inside the vehicle and if your head is looking down at your cellphone, the technology will notify you that you’re not spending enough time looking at the road ahead. It can even tell you when you’re not checking your rear view mirror enough.
This new technology will be supplied by Seeing Machines to Takata, a GM supplier, and it’s expected that this tech will be installed in 500,000 vehicles between the next three to five years.
While this technology could be helpful to drivers, it also brings up privacy concerns for users. Anyone who chooses to purchase a vehicle with this technology should be explicitly told what specific information the vehicle will collect, what will the information be used for and who may access this information. The company should also need to receive explicit consent from the consumer and it’s always nice to know how the company plans to protect your data from getting into the wrong hands.
When technology for usage-based insurance was announced in Canada, it offered an opportunity for good drivers to pay lower insurance rates for good driving habits, but there were also privacy concerns raised since the device collects detailed information on a person’s driving habits.
While Ontario’s Privacy Commissioner Ann Cavoukian praised Desjardins’ policies on its telematics devices, drivers should also be aware that information collected by the devices could be used by the police during an accident or even in a lawsuit, according to CBC News.
But GM isn’t the only company looking to curb distracted driving with Samsung testing an app in Singapore that’s able to determine whether you’re driving or not based on the speed you’re travelling at. If the app determines you’re driving, it’ll hold your phone calls, messages and social media notifications.
This year, the OPP focused on distracted driving during its Labour Day safety education blitz, but two fatal crashes out of four over the weekend were still a result of distracted driving. So far this year, there have been 39 deaths caused by distracted driving and the OPP have issued 11,500 tickets for distracted driving, according to Metro News.
The Internet of Things is gaining popularity as technology is becoming more deeply embedded in our everyday lives. Dashboard cameras look to be gaining popularity in Canada as video evidence of a crash to show insurance companies, but it could also be used as evidence in a court case. The US government also encouraged all automobile companies to install technology that goes as far as preventing drivers from driving while unbuckled or drunk. Vehicles also offers cruise control that adapts to the speed of vehicles ahead of it (adaptive cruise control), blind spot detection in your side mirrors and automatic parking assistance that lets the car takeover the parking job.
Also, the announcement of Google testing out driverless cars has caused a great deal of discussion since it might offer a choice to seniors who are no longer able to operate a vehicle, but there’s also the question of who is liable during an accident. Either way, it looks like it’s years in the making since there are many obstacles the company needs to conquer first, but more and more technological capabilities being incorporated into our vehicles is on the horizon.
Motor vehicle accidents happen and accident benefits are available to anyone involved in a motor vehicle accident regardless of who caused the accident. The personal injury and accident lawyers at Neinstein Personal Injury Lawyers have been dealing with all accident related issues throughout Ontario for over 45 years. We know how to get you the compensation that you deserve and get your life back in order after being in a car accident. Call us at 416-920-4242, set up a free consultation, and come speak with us.