Technology is indeed a gift to our society. Yet with all the toys we have to play with, we divert our focus into many different tasks at once. The Attention Powered Car hopes to minimize loss of focus due to distracted driving.

What Is an Attention Powered Car?

Developed by Emotiv, a neuroengineering company, the Attention Powered Car is designed to slow down as driver become distracted on the road. This company partnered with Royal Automotive Club in Western Australia began this project by studying how many times drivers are distracted on the road.

Drivers lose attention via eating in the car, using their phone, thinking about daily tasks, and gazing at irrelevant spots on the road for too long. The Attention Powered Car is able to measure the difference in brainwaves and slow the car in accordance to the attention of the driver.

The user of an Attention Powered Car must wear a headset that measures your brain activity. The most fascinating thing about this sensor is that it can tell when a driver will be distracted before their attention diverts to another task.

Currently, this technology is not ready for mass consumption. As of now, it is highly unlikely that drivers will want to wear a futuristic space age looking headset as they drive. With this in mind, the company is exploring future possibilities for the implementation of their Attention Powered Car.

Is Distracted Driving an Issue?

According to 2011 national statistics, over 3,000 people were killed in accidents due to distracted driving. Additionally 10% of all accidents that were reported to be an effect of distracted driving.

This study also notes that at any given moment, over half a million people are operating an electronic device while operating their vehicle. The time it takes to divert your eyes off the road for 4.6 seconds at the speed of 55 miles an hour is equivalent to driving an entire football field blind.

Distracted driving is not safe, yet with all of our technological resources, it is extremely difficult to completely engage and focus on one activity at a time. The Attention Powered Car aims to serves as a tool to promote safe driving behavior in our technology driven society.

With all technological advances, there is some criticism concerning this feature. Some drivers speculate that if cars all over the road slow down for seemingly no reason, this could heighten danger on the road. However, as the Attention Powered Car is not ready for consumer use, it will be a while before we add more technology to our roadways.

What do you think? Is this a good idea? Could you imagine yourself driving an Attention Powered Car?

Learn more here: http://www.wired.com/design/2013/11/this-car-slows-down-when-youre-not-paying-attention/ 

Watch a video about this technology: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLXMQCPiAic