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Displays Google Input Devices Transportation

Google Glass Integration For Cars Is Coming: Neat Idea Or Crazy Town? 102

Posted by timothy from the save-one-hand-for-your-sandwich dept.
cartechboy writes "Americans have enough trouble keeping from texting their way to dangerous — or worse — situations in cars. But now car makers, looking to differentiate with tech integrations and after jamming iPhone everywhere, are working hard at integrating Google Glass into vehicles. Consider this quote: 'Within seconds, I've got step-by-step directions to a coffee shop down the street beamed directly to my eyeballs.' Aside from being a little Jetsons, sounds potentially problematic. (Note, Mercedes had been doing R&D since July.) It goes without saying that someone is working on an integration of their own with a Tesla Model S. There is a coolness factor, there may be some utility — but not sure this is a great idea."
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Google Glass Integration For Cars Is Coming: Neat Idea Or Crazy Town? More

Google Glass Integration For Cars Is Coming: Neat Idea Or Crazy Town?

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  • yeah right
    • They are gung-ho about this super idea.

      Until the lawsuits start rolling in.

      I mean, people already have trouble driving when the sun is somewhere in front of them....

  • Couple it with Google Self-Driving Car (Score:5, Funny)

    by ackthpt ( 218170 ) on Friday August 16, 2013 @06:15PM (#44589483) Homepage Journal

    Car, I'm bored, take me to somewhere interesting. I'll take a nap while you drive.

  • AD's (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Osgeld ( 1900440 ) on Friday August 16, 2013 @06:19PM (#44589531)

    what is the top and bottom quarter of my windshield now going to have banner AD's beaming me garbage I either A) already bought, or B) have zero interest, in as I drive down the road?

    I can see the potential of such a heads up system, but I also know how Google makes its money, its not by charity.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      what is the top and bottom quarter of my windshield now going to have banner AD's beaming me garbage I either A) already bought, or B) have zero interest, in as I drive down the road?

      I can see the potential of such a heads up system, but I also know how Google makes its money, its not by charity.

      Rooting and Adblock are your friend. Or, just roll your own based on the source they release.

      Either way, it's a huge distraction while driving. I wouldn't recommend it.

    • Instead of the ads being intrusive they'll probably just project them as a 3D hologram on the roof of your car so everyone can see them.

    • Punch the Monkey! Punch the Monkey! O'kay, I'll run that god damn monkey over.

      Why did you run the Mayor over?

    • Re:AD's (Score:4, Informative)

      by swillden ( 191260 ) <shawn-ds@willden.org> on Friday August 16, 2013 @08:24PM (#44590533) Journal

      Google has said it's not going to allow advertising on Glass. I think the business model for Glass is just profit on hardware sales. I don't actually know the plan, that's just a guess.

      Oh, and regarding the other likely assumption of evil that I know someone is going to post: Google is also not going to be streaming everything your Glass sees to their servers. Privacy issues aside, it'd destroy the battery life and blow through your mobile data plan in no time.

      (Disclaimer: I work for Google but have no inside knowledge of Glass.)

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by gblfxt ( 931709 )

      that would be stupid at best, and google as a company has not done many stupid things. having people get in wrecks reading ads while driving is a litigious affair at best.

  • oooh....pretty colors....State Farm is There.

  • Why now? (Score:3)

    by s.petry ( 762400 ) on Friday August 16, 2013 @06:23PM (#44589577)

    I'm really stumped on this one. New cars are coming out with all kinds of distractions, like web browsing and now this. If we all had cars that drove themselves I would not mind. I can't see how this will result in anything different than people texting and driving. A few will use it as suggested (step by step GPS), but a few will crash into innocent people while updating Facebook or browsing the web.

    • Re:Why now? (Score:5, Funny)

      by ackthpt ( 218170 ) on Friday August 16, 2013 @06:25PM (#44589595) Homepage Journal

      "Oh, officer, we haven't seen him for days and we're so worried about him. We don't know were he could be."

      "OK, please try to calm down and think. Did you have a fight or was he upset about anything?"

      "No. Well ... the last thing I remember, the neighbor boy, Dennis Mitchell and his dog Ruff, came over. Dennis was asking George why he was so old and such little boy questions. George stated he wanted to go to the store to pick up some more pipe tobacco. The last thing I remember, as he was getting into the car George said to Dennis 'Get lost!'"

    • Except that if someone is going to be a crappy driver, they're going to do it with or without technology. Technology is simply the boogeyman that the media uses rather than simply admitting that there are some poor drivers on the road. A crying child in the backseat is infinitely more distracting than a radio/cell phone/Google Glass

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by s.petry ( 762400 )

        I don't agree that it's a boogeyman. I'd agree that there are many distractions to deal with driving, all of which should be manageable. Some things are simply not manageable and should not be put where the driver can be distracted. To me, it's kind of like when the larger vehicles came out with TVs in the back seat. The noise may be distracting to the driver, but the visual distraction was out of the way. The HUD features would be more like putting the TV in view of the driver.

        Distracting visuals are

        • Distracting visuals are very different from audible distractions when it comes to a task that requires hand to eye coordination.

          Yet we put distracting visuals in the streets, in the form of electronic, animated advertising displays. Mostly at crowded places where you need your concentration most.

      • Except that crappy drivers are even crappier when they have phones or kids. Crappy drivers make crappy choices. The problem with glass is that it's an exceptionally crappy choice when you're driving because it's in your vision and you can't really do anything to get rid of the distraction in an emergency. Kind of like a kid, except most people are smart enough not to drive with their kids between themselves and the windshield.

    • the first problem is that the law is not clear.

      i can't hold the phone to my ear, but i can talk hands free ... because driving with one hand is impossible? why isn't one-handed driving in general illegal?

      i can use my stand alone GPS system, but not my phone that's running a navigation?

      why can i mess with an overly complicated in-dash entertainment system, but not my phone? if i mount my phone, is it now legal to interact w/ it while driving?

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by gblfxt ( 931709 )

      nothing has changed, stupid drivers will continue to be stupid, responsible drivers aren't suddenly going to start browsing or updating facebook while driving.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by MrL0G1C ( 867445 )

      " New cars are coming out with all kinds of distractions, like web browsing"

      I sincerely hope that this isn't available whilst the car is running, otherwise if it could be proven that someone was using it whilst driving and causing accidental death, then the car manufacturer should jointly be charged with vehicular manslaughter.

  • Feature (Score:4, Funny)

    by puddingebola ( 2036796 ) on Friday August 16, 2013 @06:24PM (#44589589) Journal
    Now you can launch yourself through the windshield directly into the virtual world of Google Glass. My first adware app for Google Glass will simulate a Mac truck approaching your car, right on your windshield. The driver's instinct will be to swerve off the road, right into the gas stations that pay me for this amazing new form of advertising.

    • My first adware app for Google Glass will simulate a Mac truck approaching your car[...]

      Why not a Window truck? Wouldn't they be easier to find?

  • Great idea... (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    YES! Spend hundreds of thousands of dollars creating all these car integration apps, then watch as cities all over the country ban google glass use while driving because its too distracting.

  • Not sure it's the best way to go (Score:3)

    by SuperKendall ( 25149 ) on Friday August 16, 2013 @06:28PM (#44589629)

    Although car integration for Glass makes a lot more practical sense for me than other uses, I think there are a lot of other options that give you better and richer feedback. In car screens would have more detail than Glass, HUD displays projected on your lower windshield would be better yet as they could provide a ton of useful info.

    • Infrared cameras at night and in fog, anyone?

      • Infrared cameras at night and in fog, anyone?

        I would LOVE to see that.

        But, as a projection overlaid on my windshield, or at least a pretty large projection on the bottom of the windshield. Or even in the large screen embedded in my dashboard that highlights heat sources.

        Having a small floating screen that kind of messes with your peripheral vision is NOT the best way to deliver IR video feeds from the front of your car.

        • I thought I already saw that in a car commercial about a decade ago, and it was a real option. What is everybody getting all worked up over a head-up display (HUD) for anyway? They have been in use in military aircraft for decades.

          • When was the last time you flew a military aircraft down a crowded street? Not too many pedestrians, cyclists, dogs, parked vehicles up there in the skies.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by Cederic ( 9623 )

              When was the last time you tried to dogfight in your Chevy? Not too many enemy aircraft, AA guns and threats coming in vertically on the street.

              HUDs help you avoid looking down. It's in the name: "Head Up"

              Maybe you're safer looking at the speedometer or the satnav or the gear stick instead of looking at the road?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by slick7 ( 1703596 )

        Infrared cameras at night and in fog, anyone?

        This may also be a video recording of policy enforcers who do not like to be recorded.
        "You have the right to remain silent"
        "You have the right to stop recording your iCar, in the event you do not, your car will be impounded while a search warrent is processed"

    • I could go with a commercially available HUD in a car, on one condition -- any manufacturer who knowingly includes advertisements in a vehicle HUD will have their CEO summarily executed.

      We'd probably lose a few before word got around.

  • Glass while driving is extremely dangerous (Score:5, Insightful)

    by cmay ( 687134 ) on Friday August 16, 2013 @06:50PM (#44589883) Homepage
    This is a terrible idea. Trying to read Glass while driving is VERY difficult, and you get the false sense of security that you are still "looking" at the road, when really you are not at all focused on anything in front of you. I tried it for a bit and was amazed how hard it was and how dangerous it felt. I would never use it like that. I think I'd be safer taking quick glances down at my phone with the maps app than trying to use Glass.

    • Depends on how it is done. A simple icon for the next turn and a colour coded distance readout would not be that distracting. Maybe the icon could get bigger as the distance got smaller. There is a big difference between trying to read words and dealing with icons.

      • A simple icon for the next turn and a colour coded distance readout would not be that distracting

        That could be done simply and cheaply by projecting the data on the windshield.

    • Try a car with a good heads up display. They can show current speed, map directions, and/or music selection on the windscreen, at a focal length almost the same as the road. Much quicker to look at the HUD than the speedometer, and it's not obtrusive enough that you're always paying attention to it.

  • Finally!

    I was wondering when I could get my old steering wheel laptop attachment [amazon.com].

    Google Glass will allow me to pay even more attention to my e-mails on my way to work!

  • brakes.sys has cases a system error please hold down start to restart your car.

  • I think a true heads-up display on a windshield would be much more useful than Glass. Plus it could be ensured on a true HUD, you are only seeing what you want to see (i.e. - car stats, speed, highlighted roadway/signs, etc.). I've been thinking of making one myself since there doesn't seem to be a good DIY version out on the webs. Please correct me if I'm wrong!

  • Plain Ass Stupid (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Good grief. What a stupid idea.

  • I keep hoping for an augmented reality navigation system. Not only would it make sure I don't have to listen to some automated voice that can't pronounce street names, but it'd make sure my son stops complaining about how he can't see any bears to our left or right, no matter what the navigation system says.

    Now that I think of it, instead of an arrow, the system could display a very realistic grizzly bear in whichever lane I am supposed to use to get to the highway's exit.

  • It will go well with my HD TV windshield and the Beats by Dre headphones I wear whenever I drive.

  • Turn-by-turn directions that appear to be floating in the air 8 feet in front of you, a little up and to the right so they're out of your central field of vision, seem like a safer option than putting the same directions on a screen in the center of the console and much safer than on a little handheld screen.

    Short of an actual HUD, Glass seems like the ideal way to display driving-related information. In theory, at least. I've read that the current generation isn't quite bright enough, so directions are h

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Osgeld ( 1900440 )

      "I've read that the current generation isn't quite bright enough"

      the current generation apparently cant make it 2 blocks without a babysitter giving them step by step directions

  • (yes I saw it somewhere else)
  • Even wearing headphones is prohibited in IL (and I expect many other states).

    How would this Glass distraction, in front of your eye at all times, help you be a better driver? As far as I'm concerned this is even worse that texting on the road. It would be a great solution if we were concerned that taking our eyes off the road is the problem. Changing focus and distraction seems to be the issue, and I'm not sure how being bombarded with the location-aware reality overlay that is Google Glass will contribute
  • I have dreaming about having a display in my car for decades now. It is wonderful to see some of this technologies come to life.

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