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Key Jams Cellphones, Ends Texting/Talking While Driving

by Darren Murph on December 15, 2008 at 08:29 AM


Face it, kids. You missed the best time to be a teenager by around five or so years. As it stands now, technology is cutting into that adolescent fun, with device like Ford's MyKey and this one here ensuring that you're actually safe behind the wheel. In all seriousness, the terribly named Key2SafeDriving is a fine concept (at least in the parent's eye), as it fuses a cellphone jammer (of sorts) into a key fob in order to put the kibosh on freeway conversations. Essentially, the signal blocking kicks into action anytime the "key" portion is flicked out, connecting to a handset via Bluetooth or RFID and forcing it into "driving mode." No actual jamming, per se, is going on; it's more like a manual override of the ringer. Anyone who phones / texts you while you're safely driving will receive an automated response informing them of such, though we are told that handsfree devices can be utilized. Researchers at the University of Utah are hoping to see it on the market within six months via a private company "at a cost of less than $50 per key plus a yet-undetermined monthly service fee."

[Via Gadgets-Weblog]

Tags: block, blocking, bluetooth, car, cellphone jammer, CellphoneJammer, driving, ford, jammer, jamming, key fob, Key2SafeDriving, keychain, keyfob, keys, safety, signal, signal jammer, SignalJammer, slow down, SlowDown, sms, speed, speeding, teens, text, text message, text messaging, texting, TextMessage, TextMessaging, university, utah

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