Interesting note at today’s keynotes at the Telematics Update 2011 Show in Detroit…
David Strickland, Administrator for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, made it very clear to the telematics/auto industry conference that technology curbs will be explored to prevent distracted driving. This comes despite a March 2011 move for additional study on the problem of distracted driving before government action.
Perhaps his most clear statement in regards to the NHTSA’s focus on safety relating to distracted driving was:
“A car is not a mobile device. A car is a car."
This reminded me a story that I heard from an active US observer with the German auto industry. The story goes that many German automotive engineers refused to put cup holders in their luxury cars. “Cars are for driving and not for drinking” was the stance from those German engineers. The US observer asked those same engineers “Do you want to sell cars in the US or stand by your position on cup holders?” Today, my German car has very nice cup holders…
Administrator Strickland… you might want to tell your boss, Secretary LaHood, this story about markets…. Also, it might help to toss in a couple of stories about iPhone “jail breaking” and estimate exactly how long any hardware/software regulation would last in the face of a determined hacker community.
Would you risk “jail breaking” your wireless device to use if there was a regulation against it? Would you accept the regulation?
Post your comments below or email (John.Myers@BlueBuffaloGroup.com) / twitter (@BlueBuffaloGrp) me directly.
Posted June 9, 2011 10:35 AM
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