Mexican Media Brands
Chevy Calls Out Distracted Drivers
General Motors Co.’s Chevrolet unit is launching a smartphone app to help remind drivers not to pick up their phones while driving.
Share
General Motors Co.’s Chevrolet unit is launching a smartphone app to help remind drivers not to pick up their phones while driving.
The “Call Me Out” app uses a phone's accelerometer and GPS to detect when it is physically picked up while traveling faster than 5 mph. The system plays personalized messages—along with a graphic of a wagging finger—recorded by friends or family telling drivers to put their phones down and pay attention to driving.
There's also a scoreboard and national rankings based on how often a person handles their phone while driving. The app is available for free from the Google Play store for Android devices.
The idea for the app came from a “hackathon” event Chevrolet hosted in October 2016 at Wayne State University in Detroit. Chevy says the system can be used in any vehicle, including competing makes and models.
An estimated 481,000 Americans use their phones while driving during daylight hours, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The agency says there were 3,450 fatalities related to distracted driving (including cell phones and other diversions) in the U.S. in 2016.RELATED CONTENT
-
GM Develops a New Electrical Platform
GM engineers create a better electrical architecture that can handle the ever-increasing needs of vehicle systems
-
TRW Multi-Axis Acceleration Sensors Developed
Admittedly, this appears to be nothing more than a plastic molded part with an inserted bolt-shaped metal component.
-
On Electric Pickups, Flying Taxis, and Auto Industry Transformation
Ford goes for vertical integration, DENSO and Honeywell take to the skies, how suppliers feel about their customers, how vehicle customers feel about shopping, and insights from a software exec
