Cell Phone Jammer Puts Brakes on Driver Chats

Distracted Drivers Cell Phones. CREDIT: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration View full size image

Can anything stop drivers from talking on their phones? A new jammer made by Indian engineers could take the decision out of drivers' hands by disabling their phones while allowing passengers to keep talking or texting.

The system uses radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology to track whether a driver tries to use his or her phone with the car in motion, according to Smithsonian Magazine . That triggers the jammer to stop the driver's phone — a more effective measure than smartphone apps that must be installed on culprits' phones.

The idea probably has no chance of taking off commercially in the U.S. because of strict federal regulations prohibiting such technologies, but the inventors made the jammer with India's trucking industry in mind. They even go a step farther by envisioning the jammer talking with an RFID tag on a truck's license plate to report drivers who try to use their phones.

Source: International Journal of Enterprise Network Management via Smithsonian Magazine

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