Posted by Jeremy Scott in Tech News | 0 Comments
Because Driving Isn’t Nearly Distracting Enough
You know, driving used to be really easy. It was just a matter of keeping an eye on the other cars on the road and staying in your lane.
Thankfully, some technology came along to complicate things a bit and making driving more of a challenge. We have DVD players running The Incredibles for the kids, our perpetual cell phone conversations, and even the barking GPS lady to distract us.
As if all that weren’t enough, now Ford is rolling out a car in March that has a full dashboard computer–complete with keyboard–connected to the Internet.
They claim this fills a need–specifically contractors and other on-the-go professionals who might benefit from being able to download documents or schematics and such while out of the office. That’s all well and good, but I think this is a classic “can of worms” situation. Once Internet-connected computers are commonplace in car dashboards, we’re all doomed.
You thought texting-and-driving was dangerous? Try IM-ing and driving. Or blogging and driving. Facebooking and driving. It’s enough to make you shudder.
There is a plus side, of course. I will now be able to edit the Wikipedia pages on local politicians while on the interstate. Sweet.
Actually, this has been a long time coming. I mean, police officers have had in-car computers for years. And once those robot-driven cars we have been promised hit the road… well then who cares if we surf the Internet in transit? It’s the ten years between now and robot-driven cars that scare me.
