By merging data from cars’ onboard computers and drivers’ smart phones, AT&T researchers have created a system that reports on drivers’ real-time behavior and long-term driving trends—and reveals whether a particular mistake might have been caused by phone use.
The company envisions the prototype system as a cloud-based chaperone for teen drivers. But it could rate any driver’s abilities, and any change in those abilities, over time. “It allows you, as a parent, to monitor kids’ driving behavior in real time. And if your kid is SMS-ing while driving, you will be able to log it—and even remotely disable the phone,” says Raz Dar, business manager at AT&T’s business incubator in Ra’anana, Israel. “The only thing he could do to prevent it is take out the unit from the car—unplug it—but we can detect that, too, and send an alert.”
Full Story: App Tracks Your Teenager’s Driving Habits
