NHTSA Car Of The Future Can Prevent Drunk Driving
By Paulo Acoba
The NHTSA unveiled earlier today (June. 4, 2015) there Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety or DADSS for short. According to the NHTSA, this pilot program began in 2008 with the sole purpose of “preventing vehicles from being driven when a driver’s blood alcohol concentration (BAC) BAC exceeds the legal limit of 0.08 percent.” The mission of this pilot program is to work towards a voluntary, nonregulatory counter measure to reduce drunk driving. Currently, there are 17 other vehicle manufacturers in support of this NHTSA program. The program has three phases and phase two is in the process of beginning.
The first phase of the project dealt with finding out if a touch based or breath-based test was feasible. The second phase now deals with how accurate and unobtrusive this test is when you enter and exit a vehicle for driving. And if all goes according to plan, the last phase would be how well humans interact with the system including further refinement.
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Additionally, the NHTSA dropped a promotional video showcasing exactly what this new technology means. Check out the video below. Basically, before starting your car you’d have to wait while your breath or touch was analyzed before you could start the vehicle. With estimates of 10,000 alcohol related deaths a year at a cost of over $199 billion according to MADD, this technology has the potential to save lives and money.
Currently, there are no real opponents to the technology and everything seems to be moving according to plan. The real litmus test will come when the NHTSA presents their findings to actual car manufacturers who’ll have to put their money where ther mouth is in implementing this technology into their vehicles.