Today's court case could decide the future of Glass being used by drivers worldwide not just in various states across the USA, the threat of a ban could destroy some fantastic applications / uses for Glass and I hope the courts are not shortsighted enough to impose a ban.
 |
| Picture by Ryan Li |
Firstly the creation of an app than monitors blinks and the direction of your head, causing Glass to sound an audible alarm right into your head, we have seen something like this being made in the Glass community and I hope we see a full production sometimes soon. Great for those long drives when your concentration lets you down.
This also goes for speed too, knowing how fast you're travelling could help keep to the speed limit, regardless of the country and car you are driving. There are many GPS systems which have alerts for speed limits, but when they stop receiving updates the speed limits don't get updated either, Glass uses Google Maps which is refreshed for roadworks etc, and changes to speed on main roads, and I'm sure traffic is also being included soon too. Being alerted via the display as well as into your ear when you are speeding as well as going the correct way is vital to road safety.
In some parts of the world dashboard cams help reduce car insurance, they record the last moments of your drive, maybe the last 10-30 seconds are recorded in a rolling basis. Not only does this assist in fast claim payouts in the event of a crash but it also could help in the event of someone performing a hit and run, recording vital information which could be pushed from your handset right to the insurance companies and police quickly. Glass could do the same and not only that but say if someone attempts a car jack, hit a panic button and the recording is sent quickly, police alerted. Just with a quick tap to the Glass the info is sent.
These are just two I can think of, right off the top of my head, sure they are crudely thought out and I haven't put much process into these but hey I'm not a developer - what would be criminal is this kind of usage that allows us to be safer when driving, get us from A to B, keeps our car insurance lower, that would be killed off; just because a lawyer someplace wants to enforce a fine that makes local law makers money.
As I have said many times on this blog, starving innovation for a quick buck doesnt help anyone. Most of all the misguided law makers that will see Glass as another way to milk a buck or 50 out of drivers.