Don’t you hate it when you have many family members sharing the same car, and you need to use the car but you need to spend the next several minutes adjusting the seat, mirrors, radio station, etc? While it may not be making its way into our vehicles in the near future, an Extreme Blue project organized by IBM has resulted in the Smarter Vehicle platform.
Through the use of an RFID tag that the car owner is wearing, the car will be able to react accordingly. I suppose one could think of the RFID tag as a user profile where the car will adjust the seat accordingly, change the radio to your favorite station, heat the seats, etc. The system will even store more than just personal preferences and apparently will learn where the user is going.
Not just content with minor conveniences and personal preferences, sensors built into the steering wheel can check the driver’s heart rate and blood pressure to keep an eye on the stress levels, levels which will without doubt rise during bad traffic jams. Those who took part in the project have apparently been in touch with car maker Jaguar who may be considering using this technology should it make its way outside of the lab.