Car Key Jams Teen Drivers' Cell Phones

[2o6]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081231131218.htm

Car Key Jams Teen Drivers' Cell Phones

ScienceDaily (Jan. 3, 2009) ? University of Utah researchers have developed an automobile ignition key that prevents teenagers from talking on cell phones or sending text messages while driving.

The university has obtained provisional patents and licensed the invention ? Key2SafeDriving ? to a private company that hopes to see it on the market within six months at a cost of less than $50 per key plus a yet-undetermined monthly service fee.

"The key to safe driving is to avoid distraction," says Xuesong Zhou, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering who co-invented the system with Wally Curry, a University of Utah graduate now practicing medicine in Hays, Kan. "We want to provide a simple, cost-effective solution to improve driving safety."

Zhou notes that "at any given time, about 6 percent of travelers on the road are talking on a cell phone while driving. Also at any given time, 10 percent of teenagers who are driving are talking or texting." Studies have shown drivers using cell phones are about four times more likely to get in a crash than other drivers.

"As a parent, you want to improve driving safety for your teenagers," he says. "You also want to reduce your insurance costs for your teen drivers. Using our system you can prove that teen drivers are not talking while driving, which can significantly reduce the risk of getting into a car accident."

If things go as planned, the Key2SafeDriving system won?t be sold directly to consumers by a manufacturer, but instead the technology may be licensed to cell phone service providers to include in their service plans, says Ronn Hartman, managing partner of Accendo LC. The Kaysville, Utah, company provides early stage business consulting and "seed funding." It has licensed the Key2SafeDriving technology from the University of Utah and is working to manufacture and commercialize it.

Hartman envisions gaining automobile and insurance industry backing so that Key2SafeDriving data on cell phone use (or non-use) while driving can be compiled into a ?safety score? and sent monthly to insurance companies, which then would provide discounts to motorists with good scores.  The score also could include data recorded via Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites on the driver?s speeding, rapid braking or running of lights, which are calculated by comparing the driver?s position with a database of maps, speed limits, stop lights and so on.

How Key2SafeDriving Works

The system includes a device that encloses a car key ? one for each teen driver or family member. The device connects wirelessly with each key user?s cell phone via either Bluetooth or RFID (radio-frequency identification) technologies.

To turn on the engine, the driver must either slide the key out or push a button to release it. Then the device sends a signal to the driver?s cell phone, placing it in "driving mode" and displaying a "stop" sign on the phone's display screen.

While in driving mode, teen drivers cannot use their cell phones to talk or send text messages, except for calling 911 or other numbers pre-approved by the parents ? most likely the parents' own cell numbers.

Incoming calls and texts are automatically answered with a message saying, "I am driving now. I will call you later when I arrive at the destination safely."

When the engine is turned off, the driver slides the key back into the device, which sends a "car stopped" signal to the cell phone, returning it to normal communication mode.

The device can't be "tricked" by turning the phone off and on again because the phone will receive the "driving mode" signal whenever the car key is extended.

Adult drivers cannot text or use a handheld cell phone, but the Key2SafeDriving system does allow them to talk using a hands-free cell phone ? even though studies by University of Utah psychologists indicate hands-free phones are just as distracting as handheld phones.

Curry agrees that driving while talking on any cell phone "is not safe," but he says the inventors have to face the practical issue of whether adults would buy a product to completely block their cell phone use while driving.

Limiting some cell calls by adults "is a step in the right direction," he says.

Zhou says the goal for adults is to improve safety by encouraging them to reduce the time they spend talking while driving. The encouragement could come in the form of insurance discounts by insurers, who would receive monthly scores from Key2SafeDriving showing how well an adult driver avoided talking while driving.

An Invention is Born

The new invention began with Curry, a Salt Lake City native who graduated from the University of Utah with an accounting degree and premedical training in 1993. He returned from the Medical College of Wisconsin for his surgical residency in urology at University Hospital during 1998-2003. He now is a urologist in Hays, Kan.

His concern with driving-while-talking began because, as a doctor, "the hospital is calling me all the time on my cell phone when I?m driving."

One day while driving home, he saw a teenage girl texting while driving, making him worry about his 12- and 14-year-old daughters, who are approaching driving age.

"I thought, this is crazy, there has got to be something to stop this, because not only is she putting people at risk, but so was I," Curry says. "It struck me pretty hard that something should be done."

Curry's initial idea was a GPS system to detect a moving cell phone and disable it when it moved at driving speeds. Meanwhile, someone else developed a similar system based on the same idea. But it cannot distinguish if the cell phone user is driving a car or is a passenger in a moving car, bus or train ? a problem overcome by Key2SafeDriving.

In early 2008, Curry called Larry Reaveley, a civil engineering professor at the University of Utah, who suggested Curry contact Zhou, a specialist in "intelligent" transportation systems. Zhou and Curry then came up with the idea of blocking cell phone usage via a vehicle ignition key.


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Not too sure I like this idea. Seems kinda unsafe. What if something happens and you can't be contacted because your phone is jammed?

[Tave]

While in driving mode, teen drivers cannot use their cell phones to talk or send text messages, except for calling 911 or other numbers pre-approved by the parents ? most likely the parents' own cell numbers.

Yeah, it's not distracting when it's the parents themselves.


My mom is one of the worst offenders. She always freaks out when I take long trips in the winter and won't stop calling. She has a knack for checking in when I'm about 10 miles from my destination.

And she's even worse when the coverage is bad. Mom, when I tell you the reception sucks, don't call me back in 5 minutes.

[Tave]

Oh, and I could "fix" the Key2SafeDriving with a $5 trip to the local locksmith.

[MX793]

Oh, and I could "fix" the Key2SafeDriving with a $5 trip to the local locksmith.

Quite a few new cars have engine disabler chips in the keys such that a regular locksmith cannot cut you a new car key.  If you happen to have a blank, they could cut you a new one (though you'd have to program the blank, which generally isn't hard), but I don't know if many lock smiths are able to get blanks.  You have to go to a dealer and have to provide evidence that you own the car.  If the car isn't in your name, you're SOL on getting a new key.

[SVT666]

Quite a few new cars have engine disabler chips in the keys such that a regular locksmith cannot cut you a new car key.  If you happen to have a blank, they could cut you a new one (though you'd have to program the blank, which generally isn't hard), but I don't know if many lock smiths are able to get blanks.  You have to go to a dealer and have to provide evidence that you own the car.  If the car isn't in your name, you're SOL on getting a new key.

New keys are laser cut and locksmiths can't do that.

[hotrodalex]

New keys are laser cut and locksmiths can't do that.

Just get new locks altogether.

[Tave]

Quite a few new cars have engine disabler chips in the keys such that a regular locksmith cannot cut you a new car key.  If you happen to have a blank, they could cut you a new one (though you'd have to program the blank, which generally isn't hard), but I don't know if many lock smiths are able to get blanks.  You have to go to a dealer and have to provide evidence that you own the car.  If the car isn't in your name, you're SOL on getting a new key.

I drive an Aveo.

[2o6]

I drive an Aveo.

You'd be surprised at how commonplace those keys are. I wouldn't be surprised it was on your aveo.

[Speed_Racer]

Sell the car!

"Well, I would have told you, Mom and Dad, but my phone was jammed!"

[AutobahnSHO]

I would do this to my son in a heartbeat.

Cellphone drivers are the worst.

Note that with this system the driver can still call 911 and if there IS an emergency or need to receive calls, just pullover and slide the key closed. It probably instantaneously unblocks.

[BimmerM3]

I have to go to the dealership to have a key made for me too.

I actually think this is a pretty good idea.

[Gotta-Qik-C7]

Like someone else said. Some of the parents are worse than teenagers when it comes to cellphone use while driving. Soccer moms in their Suburbans and various minivans need one of these keys just for them.  I think this is a good idea 'tho.

[Tave]

I have to go to the dealership to have a key made for me too.

I actually think this is a pretty good idea.

Yeah, who wants to pay $2 at a locksmith when they can pay $60-$100 at a car dealer.

[dazzleman]

I already have that problem with my key fob.

[Soup DeVille]

Great, a needless technological solution to a needless technological problem.

Rather, we should take away the auto everything on the cars that teenagers drive: have them deal with an unsychronized three on the tree crash box, manua spark advance and manual choke.

They'll be too busy pumping the air into the fuel tank to get the pressure up to text anyone.

[2o6]

It seems like these advancements will make our generation into a world full of lame adults.

[dazzleman]

Pretty much.

[Raza]

It seems like these advancements will make our generation into a world full of lame adults.

I think that's the most sensible thing I've ever seen you say.

[giant_mtb]

How about teaching your kid good values and safety ideals instead of policing them?

[Colin]

Will this technology also stop people from holding their buckets of drink while they are driving.

I thought driving standards in Europe were poor until I encountered the American habit of jawing on a cellphone in one hand and holding the drink with the other. Worst are those who start up them immediately decide to dial outboud......... for heavne sake, make the call before you move off, you complete toe-rags! Concentration levels and awareness of what and who is around you in the US  are appalling, but as someone says above, it seems as if many have the idea that if you are in a big SUV, you will come off better than the poor vitim you hit seems to mean that people think it does not matter............... having said that, I have been pleased to see that compliance with the "hands free only" rule in California seems to be surprisingly good.

[Laconian]

Why stop at teens?

[AutobahnSHO]

It seems like these advancements will make our generation into a world full of lame adults.

Go watch Wall-E.  Sure it's Disney/Pixar, but it's pretty good.

And shows EXACTLY what you're talking about.

[AutobahnSHO]

How about teaching your kid good values and safety ideals instead of policing them?

Some of 'em don't listen.
After a year or two of driving  my kids wouldn't need it anymore..

[AutobahnSHO]

Will this technology also stop people from holding their buckets of drink while they are driving.

I thought driving standards in Europe were poor ...

LOL
My cousin taught me how to drive stick with a slushee when I was 16. It takes a little coordination to shift- drink- steer- put slushee between legs- shift/turn- drink- put slushee between legs- fiddle with radio- shift- steer- etc...

And WOW do I miss European drivers. It's much more laid-back and much less congested around here (Georgia) than Maryland, but no one knows what turn signals are...

[r0tor]

New keys are laser cut and locksmiths can't do that.

mine isn't.  I bought a "switchblade" style (key folds up into the remote) 2005 Mazda RX-8 key off of e-bay for my 2004.  I programmed it with a pretty easy procedure (for the remote and ignition chip) then took it to the local ACE hardware store to be cut.  They cut it but it wasn't perfect.  I took it to the dealer and they used the same style grinder and is still wansn't perfect.  I then went home and used a set of calipers and a file and made the key work.


That said, people talking aimlessly and texting while driving just really annoys the hell out of me and I wish all cars were electromagnetically shielded or created a jamming signal so no god damn signal could penetrate the car and people's phones would be useless from inside the car.

Actually I hate cell phones in general... so I just wish an EMP bomb would aspl0de all of them one day.

[Rich]

Actually I hate cell phones in general... so I just wish an EMP bomb would aspl0de all of them one day.

The only way people in the US can contact me is through my house phone through Vonage (my cell is a Japanese number).  It's so funny how offended people get when I'm not here and can't answer the phone.  It's like they can't fathom the idea of a phone you can't carry with you


That said, I do appreciate being able to have internet access when I'm out and about to get movie showtimes, find places to eat, look at google maps to find my way, and other info.  Before I got my iPhone I hated the idea of a cell phone.

I really hate when I see other people pick up the cell when they are driving or even while shopping or whatever.  When I see them pick up it looks to me like that phone call is the most important thing in the world to them 

[Cookie Monster]

What a dumb idea...

[Tave]

It seems like these advancements will make our generation into a world full of lame adults.

Why not give our kids clubs and tell them to hunt for their food?

[Raza]

Will this technology also stop people from holding their buckets of drink while they are driving.

I thought driving standards in Europe were poor until I encountered the American habit of jawing on a cellphone in one hand and holding the drink with the other. Worst are those who start up them immediately decide to dial outboud......... for heavne sake, make the call before you move off, you complete toe-rags! Concentration levels and awareness of what and who is around you in the US  are appalling, but as someone says above, it seems as if many have the idea that if you are in a big SUV, you will come off better than the poor vitim you hit seems to mean that people think it does not matter............... having said that, I have been pleased to see that compliance with the "hands free only" rule in California seems to be surprisingly good.

I abhor talking on the phone while driving, but I feel like I'm the only one.  People will call me, I'll inform them that I'm driving, and then they'll continue talking as if I were sitting on my sofa at home.  Now, on the highway, during off-peak hours, I don't mind it so much; when driving long distances where there are almost no turns and no shifting, it doesn't matter too much.  I'll put the speaker on and drop the phone in my cupholder. 

Now drinking while driving is something else entirely.  I do that.  I drink a lot during the day, and often I take a water or a soda with me when driving so I don't have to stop and pay a ridiculous price to buy a bottle.  I generally only do drink when stopped though, as I kind of use both my hands when driving. 

Both talking on the phone and drinking while driving can be done responsibly.  It's just mostly isn't. 

Also, as far as hands-free devices go, I've heard of studies that say that they're no less distracting than using your handset.  Now, I'm not entirely sure I believe that, but that's what they say.

[Tave]

I think learning how to drive a stick while drinking a soda and eating a burger and some fries is a crucial right-of-passage for any young American.