Interesting bit on data mining cars, but it’ll never happen. Not for a long time at least, when the government will probably mandate it for our “safety.”

This bit kills me:

He believes that as the car of the future studies the driver’s voice, facial expressions and emotional state using a camera and even blood pressure monitors in the steering wheel, it could change its tone to match your mood. In other words, it’ll know when you’re about to blow your top because someone cut you off, and soothe your nerves with a friendly voice.

Are you kidding dude? If my car talked to me when I was angry I would pull over and light it on fire.

However, add a little AI therapy to the mix, and perhaps a benzodiazipine dispenser, and we might have something.

“Our research indicates that the strategy that works best is what we called cognitive reframing, which involves not letting the negative emotion start in the first place” he says. “So rather than try to repair the emotion, you try to prevent it. Someone cuts you off and the car says, ‘Five miles ahead, the road will clear,’ something that changes your view from anger to something more positive.”

Hal: “Relax, Manunderstress. Five miles ahead, the road will clear.”

MUS: “Give me a Xanax, Hal. And shut the fuck up.”

This entry was posted on Friday, May 23rd, 2008 at 12:11 am and is filed under general, musings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.