Texting and driving is a big no-no, unless you are in a self-driving car in which we suppose it’s sort of ok, even though you should probably keep your eyes on the road anyway. However until self-driving cars become commercially available, what are we to do about people who text and drive?
A man by the name of T.J. Evarts might have the solution to that problem in the form of a steering wheel add-on called the SMARTWheel. Debuting during CES 2016, the SMARTWheel is pretty much a cover for your steering wheel, meaning that installing it will be easy and fuss-free. It comes with sensors and will know if you don’t have two hands on the wheel, like you should.
If it detects that you don’t, flashing lights and buzzing sounds will go off until you put your hands back on. Evarts actually came up with this device several years ago, and he actually made an appearance on the TV show Shark Tank. The SMARTWheel will also log incidents when you take your hands off the wheel, either for yourself to review or for your parents to review, so they know what kind of (dangerous) driver you are.
The SMARTWheel is expected to be launched in the first half of 2016, but the actual price of the device has yet to be finalized.