Ferrari Mailing List: Re: Texting While Driving - No Car Content

[Dennis Liu (bigheaddennis]

I am intimately familiar with this problem and solutions that attempt to
solve it.  There are serious issues with solutions that use the phone's GPS
capabilities, however.

1.  While GPS can be highly accurate for location ID, it suffers when signal
strength is not strong, resulting in a false calculation of movement.  This
is especially heightened if the user is sitting inside a building; the phone
does a location query, which places it at X; it does a second query, to
determine speed, and it places it at Y.  When the GPS signal is weak (or
tower triangulation), then X and Y can be significantly far apart, even
though the phone is on a desk.  But the program doesn't know that, so it
does the speed calculation and then disables the phone!

2.  GPS-based systems must constantly query its location 24/7, draining the
battery in 1-2 hours.  

3.  To avoid killing the battery that quickly, these programs will typically
build in a delay - don't constantly query the GPS; instead, just do it every
X minutes.  BUT, that means a GPS-based system must allow low-speed use,
giving temptation for use in rolling traffic, AND it'll have a built-in
delay.  Imagine parking and then having to wait 10 minutes before being able
to use the phone.  
        
4.  GPS-based systems cannot determine if the user is just a passenger or
taking public transportation.  So no using your phone on the bus, train, or
in the passenger seat!

Vty,

--Dennis



-----Original Message-----
From: LarryT [mailto:l02turner [at] comcast.net] 
Sent: Tuesday, July 13, 2010 8:42 PM
Subject: Texting While Driving - No Car Content

Howdy -
    Those of you with kids who are hooked on "Texting" might like to hear 
about this service.  (I have no connection)   This company offers the 
ability to block texting when the vehicle is moving.  It uses the GPS system

in the car to determine if the car is moving or not - when it detects 
movement it locks texting out.  It's described at:

http://www.tvkim.com/watch/284/kim-on-komand-how-to-block-texting-while-driv
ing.

Good luck -

LarryT