Auto Safety Tech at a Glance
Washington — With automakers offering an increasing array of safety technologies, it’s hard to stay up to speed with the systems. Some have been around a decade or more but have only become common in the past few years. Others are still available primarily in high-end vehicles. A quick description of some of them: ■ Backup cameras. After a driver shifts into reverse, the camera activates to display what’s behind. The display screen...
‘Spy Car’ is Watching You
Chicago — If, while driving, you were also chowing down food, yakking on your phone or getting distracted by Bella the Labrador retriever, would your insurance company know? A patent issued in August to Allstate mentions using sensors and cameras to record “potential sources of driver distraction within the vehicle (e.g. pets, phone usage, unsecured objects in vehicle).” It also mentions gathering information on the number and types...
‘The Internet of Things’ Has Untapped Potential
Just when you thought the Internet of Things couldn’t possibly live up to its hype, along comes a blockbuster, 142-page report from McKinsey Global Institute (The Internet of Things: Mapping the Value Beyond the Hype) that says, if anything, we’re underestimating the potential economic impact of the Internet of Things. By 2025, says McKinsey, the potential economic impact of having “sensors and actuators connected by networks to...
Keeping an Eye on Mom and Dad
San Francisco — Each time 81-year-old Bill Dworsky or his 80-year-old wife Dorothy opens the refrigerator, closes the bathroom door or lifts the lid on a pill container, tiny sensors in their San Francisco home make notes on a digital logbook. The couple’s 53-year-old son, Phil, checks it daily on his smartphone. If there’s no activity during a designated time, the younger Dworsky gets an automated email, so he can decide whether to...
