Is RFID the Key to Safe Driving?

“A University of Utah professor claims that embedding an RFID tag into a car key is the most effective way to stop drivers from speaking and texting on cell phones”, according to a report on the RFID Journal site. It further says that “a University of Utah professor and graduate have developed a solution that, via passive RFID or active Bluetooth technology, can effectively prevent drivers from texting or speaking on their cell phones while operating cars. The university has obtained provisional patents, and the solution has been licensed to Accendo, a Keysville, Utah, company that provides early-stage business consulting and seed funding.

The solution, known as Key2SafeDriving, was invented by Xuesong Zhou, an assistant professor with the university’s department of civil and environmental engineering, and Wally Curry, a University of Utah graduate now practicing medicine in Hays, Kan., and includes a hard plastic shell that encloses a car key. When the key protrudes from the shell (by either manually sliding it out or pushing a button that pops it out), the Bluetooth transmitter is switched on and begins communicating with the cell phone’s Bluetooth radio—or, in the case of RFID, the RFID inlay embedded in the key’s plastic head is exposed, thereby enabling the interrogator built into the cell phone to read the inlay’s unique identifier.

Here’s how Key2SafeDriving will be designed to work: To start the car, a driver will either slide the key out of its shell or push a button to release it. This, in turn, will expose the RFID chip to the cell phone’s RFID reader, or activate the Bluetooth communications, either of which will wirelessly communicate a unique ID number to the driver’s cell phone (which must have either RFID or Bluetooth capability). If the cell phone receives such a signal, it enters “driving mode” and shows a stop sign on the phone’s display screen.

When in driving mode, the phone cannot be used in any manner. The solution will include the capability to override this mode without sliding the key back into the enclosure if 911, or other numbers preset in the phone, are called or received. When those numbers either call in or are called, the phone switches out of driving mode, and when the user hangs up, the phone automatically reverts back to driving mode once more.

While the phone is in driving mode, incoming calls and text messages will be automatically answered with a message indicating, “I am driving now. I will call you later when I arrive at the destination safely.” Once the engine is turned off, the driver can then slide the key back into the Key2SafeDriving’s plastic shell, which deactivates the Bluetooth transmitter or blocks the RF signal—which the cell phone interprets as “car stopped.” The phone is then returned to normal communication mode.”

It is also interesting to read that the duo originally considered using GPS, but realized the limitation that “GPS cannot distinguish if the cell phone’s user is the driver or a passenger in a moving car, bus or train” and even though initially plan to use Bluetooth since it is already prevalent on many cell-phones, are still betting only on RFID since that “is really the way to go”. Although research studies have borne out that it is not just mobile usage alone in automobiles that causes enough of a distraction to result in an accident and can include other things like reading a newspaper or book, listening to the radio or personal grooming, yet by and large, mobiles are turning out to be such dangerous attention-grabbers that a technology that prevents talking or texting on a mobile while driving is certainly welcome.