If you have ever used Waze before while you’re driving, you might have noticed that a warning pops up that basically tells you that it’s dangerous to use the app while you drive, unless you tell the app that you’re a passenger in which it bypasses that safety protocol. However it is a clever design and it looks like Life360 will be partnering with Ford to offer a similar feature in future Ford car owners.The partnership will see Life360 integrated into the Ford SYNC AppLink and will introduce a new feature called Drive Mode. Basically how it works is that when the driver gets into their Ford vehicle, the Life360 app will automatically and immediately pair with the Ford SYNC through Bluetooth. From there the app will be able to send out notifications to family members that their loved one is driving and they will not be able to reply messages.
However the app is also able to detect when the car has stopped, either at their destination, at a red light, and etc., and will notify family members that the user has stopped and that they are free to reply/send messages. Speaking to VentureBeat, Life360’s founder and CEO Chris Hulls added, “It sounds like a dull feature, but it’s a really helpful feature.”
The app will be made available to Android devices first followed by iOS later on in the year. Life360 and Ford are also expected to demonstrate the feature at CES 2015 next week, so do check back with us then for the details.