By Brandon Turkus, Autoblog.com - People, distracted driving needs to end. A woman's butt was impaled by a metal pole because she was texting while driving. Seriously, this needs to stop. But how? How do you get people to put their phones down and focus on managing the 1,800-kilogram hulk of steel they're hurtling along at 100 kilometres per hour in? Well, General Motors may have found the answer.
Financial Times is reporting on a deal between Australian firm Seeing Machines and Takata to supply the General with 500,000 eye- and head-tracking cameras that will be fitted to vehicles over a three- to five-year period. According to FT, the cameras measure the rotation of the drivers head, eye blinks and other metrics to make sure they're paying enough attention to the road and their mirrors, limiting a driver's ability to get distracted.
While the potential for safety improvements is quite obvious, there could be a number of other benefits to the new cameras, as well.
"Safety doesn't sell cars - sexy sells cars," Ken Kroeger, Seeing Machines' chief executive told FT. "But once cameras are there, they can be expanded for other features and purposes."
That could, according to Kroeger, include sight-activated features, where the driver's line of sight could be monitored, and at the press of a steering wheel button, something is activated. Yes, you could stealthily activate your passenger's heated seats on a humid summer's day simply by looking at the button. More practically, the cameras could also prevent unauthorized users from starting a vehicle, dealing a devastting blow to car theft.
It all sounds quite intriguing. What are your thoughts? Will more cameras help curb distracted driving? Would you even want more cameras in your car?
Financial Times is reporting on a deal between Australian firm Seeing Machines and Takata to supply the General with 500,000 eye- and head-tracking cameras that will be fitted to vehicles over a three- to five-year period. According to FT, the cameras measure the rotation of the drivers head, eye blinks and other metrics to make sure they're paying enough attention to the road and their mirrors, limiting a driver's ability to get distracted.
While the potential for safety improvements is quite obvious, there could be a number of other benefits to the new cameras, as well.
"Safety doesn't sell cars - sexy sells cars," Ken Kroeger, Seeing Machines' chief executive told FT. "But once cameras are there, they can be expanded for other features and purposes."
That could, according to Kroeger, include sight-activated features, where the driver's line of sight could be monitored, and at the press of a steering wheel button, something is activated. Yes, you could stealthily activate your passenger's heated seats on a humid summer's day simply by looking at the button. More practically, the cameras could also prevent unauthorized users from starting a vehicle, dealing a devastting blow to car theft.
It all sounds quite intriguing. What are your thoughts? Will more cameras help curb distracted driving? Would you even want more cameras in your car?
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