Software Companies Scramble for Solutions to Texting While Driving

These solutions mostly involve blocking text messages from being sent or received while the cell phone’s owner is driving. These applications will, in most cases, require a smart phone with GPS technology.

Safe Driving Systems Corp. has developed a system that controls the cell phone’s display as soon as the owner starts driving; it disables the keypad and only allows emergency calls to be made. Called Key2SafeDriving, the system will soon be available for $100.

The start-up Aegis Mobility will offer DriveAssist for $6 to $12 per month, which will detect when the phone is moving at driving speed and intercept incoming texts and calls. It will also block outgoing communications, with the exception that the driver can override it in an emergency. DriveAssist signed a deal with Nationwide Mutual Insurance that will give policyholders a discounted rate if they subscribe to the service.

Then there are companies like Vingo Corp. and Mobivox that offer voice-to-text technology. For a per-message fee, owners can dictate their texts while driving. Vingo offers an $18 version of the application for BlackBerry; Mobviox offers the service for 29 cents per message through its wireless carrier partners.

Seventeen states and the District of Columbia have banned texting while driving, and it seems likely that many more states will soon follow suit given the overwhelming evidence of its dangers.

Firms Racing to End Texting and Driving (The Wall Street Journal)