Report:Toyota developing cars that detect drunk driving
 

Report: Toyota developing cars that detect drunk driving


news1130 .com/news/business/article.jsp?content=b010271A

2, 2007 - 6:38 pm

TOKYO (AP) - Toyota Motor Corp. is developing a fail-safe system for cars that detects drunk drivers and automatically shuts the vehicle down if sensors pick up signs of excessive alcohol consumption, a news report said Wednesday.

Cars fitted with the detection system will not start if sweat sensors in the driving wheel detect high levels of alcohol in the driver's bloodstream, according to a report carried by the mass-circulation daily, Asahi Shimbun.

The system could also kick in if the sensors detect abnormal steering, or if a special camera shows that the driver's pupils are not in focus. The car is then slowed to a halt, the report said.

The world's No. 2 automaker hopes to fit cars with the system by the end of 2009, according to the report. Calls to Toyota's headquarters in Nagoya rang unanswered on Wednesday, a public holiday.

Nissan Motor Co., another Japanese car manufacturer, has already been experimenting with breathalyzer-like devices that could detect if a driver was drunk. Similar technologies, such as alcohol ignition interlocks, are in use in the U.S. and elsewhere.

Concerns over drunk driving have surged in Japan following a series of alcohol-related accidents last year. In August, a drunk driver collided with another vehicle carrying a family of five, plunging them off a bridge and killing three children.

The incident prompted stepped-up roadside spot checks by police, who also plan to stiffen penalties for drunken driving.



What next?

wow pretty crazy

That would only knock out about 97% of everyone on the road :1orglaugh

only a matter of time

They won't do it until the gov makes them add them into cars.

Fuck! God damn computers....

better invention would be a car that refuses to start if it detects a human being with a vagina on the driver seat
:1orglaugh

how useless is that

wow, it detects abnormal steering? that SUCKS

I am a crazy driver, it would shut down every time I was behind the wheel

That is wrong...
Do you know how many people drive drunk?

Yeah, I've heard of this. They've been contemplating integrating this for a while now. I don't think it'll pass until it's required by law...I just can't see that vehicle selling well with so many drunk drivers out there. And no matter how much Toyota wants you to believe they care about consumer safety, they'll still stall/fail to integrate it if it's not a good business (financial) decision.

This technology is full of flaws anyway. My friend has a 20 yard unpaved driveway with mini-craters scattered about. Say I don't want my tire falling into one of these holes. Am I to expect my car to shut down, leaving me stranded, if I decide to swerve inbetween the holes? And what about parties? At large parties I move my car to let people out of the drive several times a night. Hate to say "sorry, cant move my fucking car cuz it doesn't trust me".

This technology seems to have good intentions, but like communism, it looks better on paper. Just my 2 cents.


later
c-lo

wise words. I agree.

Oh fuck and sick abt the Toyoto cars.... really great to see that...

For liablity reasons, you would never see that in the US. What if the car wasn't working the moment you needed it to take your pregnant wife to the hospital to have a kid?

You were trying to get away from a murderous street gang that followed you out from eating at a nice resturant, but because the car thinks you had one too many, you are a dead duck in the parking lot.

Yup.

:1orglaugh :1orglaugh