The relentless march of technology sometimes crosses the line between making our life better and delivering a life threatening menace, depending on the user's point of view. The advantages of the " Smart phone " have opened up a huge range of new services, but using them is so compelling that we find it had to resist when driving a car. This division of attention leads to crashes and we now have stringent laws to regulate their use in vehicles.
A " next generation " breakthrough in technology is about to hit the market. We will soon be able to buy pairs of eyeglasses which will obey voice commands and project functions onto the glass to be viewed in tandem with the scene the eyes are watching. For instance, these glasses may display images similar to the directional maps guiding us to our destinations. It will be claimed this is much safer than having to take our eyes off the road to read those same instructions on a screen.
Of course, the technology wizards will see the value of wearers being able to view incoming SMS messages and accessing all the other smart phone apps in this way and if the technology exists to use voice commands it will also be available to dictate outward messages - without your eyes leaving the scene ahead.
This originated from air warfare technology. Instead of looking at a host of dials and screens, the information was projected onto the cockpit windscreen so that the pilot could access it without taking his eyes off the scene ahead. It is interesting to note that when car manufacturers adopted the idea to project speed and other information to the car driver, the idea was dropped because it was deemed too intrusive from a safety point of view.
The big question will be whether a person viewing data before their eyes and seeing the normal view ahead of them - all at the same time - can do both tasks without loss of concentration leading to danger.
If talking on a mobile phone while driving is deemed too dangerous to allow, then viewing data on the surface of eyeware will certainly draw the concern of legal authorities.
There is usually a time gap between the arrival of new technology and the passing of laws to regulate it's use. This was the experience in linking mobile phone use and driving, and probably it resulted in some road deaths - and many injuries from road accidents.
Fortunately, this new technology will not initially be cheap. Prices of just under $ 1500 are predicted, but the combination of user demand and China's capacity to mass produce will see prices fall and if this follows the smart phone example, it will quickly become a " must have ".
Perhaps it is this form of technology that is driving research into putting the computer behind the wheel instead of a human driver. Humans will shortly be too busy with their gadgets to safely perform a driving task !
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