American tech giant Apple has been granted a patent for “Detecting Controllers in Vehicles Using Wearable Devices.”
First uncovered by , the patent essentially uses a wearable like the Apple Watch to detect if someone is behind the wheel of a car. If they are, the wearable will adjust the number and type of notifications it receives. Basically the motion sensors in a wearable would determine whether or not it appears someone is driving a car. And since it’s using existing motion sensors, no additional hardware would be needed to put the technology in effect.
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Distracted driving continues to be a major issue in the U.S., especially texting and driving. But now that more and more smartwatches are being used, this technology could cut down on people having to check their watches while driving as well. The U.S. government estimates 431,000 people were injured and 3,179 were killed in 2014 due to distracted driving.
[Source: Roadshow]
