New Car Powered By Your Brain to Measure Attentiveness Could Eliminate Distracted Driving

When you hear the term 'distracted driving', you probably immediately think of texting and driving, and you would be right, but there is something much more dangerous than texting and driving...inattentiveness. Eating while driving, drinking your morning coffee behind the wheel or just simply being tired can dramatically affect your ability to pay attention. What if your car could tell you are not paying attention and slow down or even stop until your attention is refocused on the task at hand...driving? The Royal Automobile Club of Western Australia has teamed up with a company called Emotiv to create the first brain-powered car that runs according to how you are or are not paying attention.

The car runs at full power when sensors in a headset detect full attentiveness. When the sensors detect distraction and not focusing on the road, the car slows down and will eventually stop until full attention is restored.

This technology is certainly not perfect and obviously could create an accident, especially if someone equally distracted is right behind you when your car begins to slow down. This technology does pose a safety hazard, but it is a very good first step and could lead to some very effective solutions against distracted driving. Do you have a better idea?

[Yahoo]