Trolling the Web, as I do, I came across a recent article in the Christian Science Monitor that discussed car manufacturer Mitsubishi's recent announcement at the Tokyo Motor Show that, while it is not prepared to get into the autonomous vehicle ring, the company will begin, with its 2019 models, to offer new driver-centric smart automation technology.
According to the article, "Mitsubishi calls the technology 'deep learning,' and it monitors the driver's behavior over time. The technology watches for patterns of normal, alert driving by gathering real-time data about the driver's steering, facial position, and even heart rate. When a driver turns unexpectedly or acts erratically, the system can detect it as the effect of distraction. This activates an alarm system, so the driver can address the problem promptly, if possible."
Am I alone in feeling immediately concerned about this? While distracted driving is a serious and widespread problem, it seems to me that the source of the increased distraction is technology itself. Phone calls, texting, selecting music from your phone's dropdown, if you tend to listen to music that way (as many do). Having seemingly passive, but in actuality active technology gauging your every movement, and sounding an alarm anytime it interprets a movement of yours as out of the norm, to my mind simply adds one more tile to the teetering, tottering tower of techonology distraction.
What happens when you're in a good mood and are singing along with the radio? What happens if you turn your head briefly to the side to iron out a stiffness in your neck? What happens when you use a hand to sip your coffee, even though the other retains its grip on the steering wheel? And would this smart tech shut itself off when the car is in cruise control? Would cruise control go the way of the dodo? And what's more, if there is a temporary situation in the car--e.g. your daughter dropped her juice box and is throwing a minor fit, or you find yourself having to reach into your purse or pocket for change because traffic patterns have forced you into a change-only toll lane--would a sounding alarm really make things better? Or do you think it would make them worse? What's more, what if you've got a sleeping child in the car and your fix your posture in your seat and the alarm goes off and wakes up the kid and there is grogginess and the opening movement of a crying salvo and you really needed to get that nap in or the rest of your already crazy day is going to be just perfect?
This sounds like hyperbole. but it is not. It happens every day.
I don't want my car monitoring my heart rate. I don't want my car scanning my eyeballs. I do not want it accumulating intimate details about me and using those details to control my behavior. Are adults really becoming so irresponsible these days that they cannot be conditioned by standard driver training to be alert and smart drivers? I do not want to feel further trapped physically than I already am in a car. A better system would be to somehow bluetooth into a person's phone when they sit down in the vehicle and shut down its functions except for mapping functions and allowance of emergency calls. Would that be really that far out of the realm of possibility from an industrial segment that has been shooting for the moon on automation for years now?
These are scattered thoughts, perhaps; but this is seems to be a misdirected application of safety protocols.
