Nissan's Game Changing Answer To Distracted Driving? - Put It In The Glovebox

We've all seen it. Inattentive drivers trying to balance piloting a two-ton hunk of metal down a busy street with keeping up to date with WhatsApp convos, putting themselves, their passengers, and everybody in close vicinity in danger. Countless local news stories and statistics have told us just how hazardous and ill-advised driving distracted can be, so we're not gonna beat a dead horse here. We can all agree that texting and driving is very, very bad, right? Good.

To combat that, Nissan Great Britain announced today it's testing an idea that it hopes will put an end to phone-based distractions in the driver's seat. They call it the 'Signal Shield,' and it's based on a nearly 200-year-old invention, the Faraday cage. Integrated into the Juke's armrest, think of it as a mini-bomb shelter for your phone. It's a small, closed compartment that cuts off any and all wireless communications to and from anything inside. Think of it as a physical implementation of airplane mode.

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carloslassiter - 5/3/2017 6:39:44 PM

+4 Boost

So consumers will put the phone in the box, but they won't just turn the thing off or - and I know this is crazytalk - just ignore it while driving?

MDarringer - 5/3/2017 6:41:54 PM

0 Boost

The technology already exists to make the driver's phone be a brick, so why not just mandate its use?

MDarringer - 5/4/2017 8:45:43 AM

0 Boost

As it has been explained to me, once the vehicle pairs with the phone, the phone would cease to operate via its screen. The phone "knows" it's paired and that its screen is not needed. The only reason this is not the norm is because it is not the law. Implementing it would be as simple as doing an OS update. Granted, idiots could turn off their blue tooth and get around it, but the connectivity of cars these days to do calls, texting, and other functions via voice command makes holding the phone outmoded.