BATON ROUGE, LA--March 15, 2012: Cellcontrol, the industry's leading developer of distracted driveing solutions, announced today that it will offer, at no cost, its patent-pending non-pairing Bluetooth communication technology to automobile original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). This technology provides a potentially universal key for new vehicles to be built ready-to-work with commercially available distracted driving applications. Utilizing the vehicle's onboard computer, Cellcontrol technology continuously detects a vehicle's speed, transmits that speed to a mobile device running a distracted driving app, and instantly blocks the inappropriate or illegal use of a driver's cell phone, tablet, laptop computer or other mobile device while driving.
“By offering our signaling technology at no cost to automakers, we believe we can set a safety foundation for the industry to build truly effective solutions for stopping distracted driving”
As mobile devices such as phones and tablets become increasingly sophisticated and powerful, they also become more distracting to drivers. The US Department of Transportation recently issued guidelines to OEMs, urging them to build into every vehicle the capability to limit the use of distracting features for drivers in a moving vehicle, including mobile devices. To accomplish that objective, OEMs need a way to communicate speed or motion to the driver's phone within a moving vehicle. Cellcontrol's non-pairing Bluetooth solution provides that platform, which is far more automated, more effective, and less invasive than traditional pairing methods.
Automakers have responded to the DOT guidelines, and agree to the need for safety for features integrated into the vehicle while calling for strong guidelines for mobile devices as well. With this announcement, OEMs can take a major step forward to providing the mechanism necessary for restricting use of mobile devices by drivers of moving vehicles. If adopted by an OEM, the Cellcontrol technology will enable all of that OEM's vehicles coming off the assembly line to be ready to communicate directly to virtually any mobile device that has Bluetooth. Since the Cellcontrol technology does not require pairing, this communications channel is far more powerful than those that require the user to pair to the vehicle's Bluetooth or to an aftermarket distracted driving solution. If pairing is required, a user can opt out by simply not pairing, and in-car devices are not easily protected. With Cellcontrol's unique broadcast technology approach, mobile devices running any authorized distracted driving application will automatically limit use as the vehicle starts to move.
"By offering our signaling technology at no cost to automakers, we believe we can set a safety foundation for the industry to build truly effective solutions for stopping distracted driving," said Scott Springer, CEO of Cellcontrol. "In addition, there is virtually no manufacturing or technology integration cost for an OEM to add this capability. Any vehicle that an OEM equips in this fashion will work immediately with the Cellcontrol apps that run on mobile phones, tablets, laptops and other handhelds. In addition, should the industry adopt or standardize on this technology approach, we will provide very affordable licensing to other distracted driving application developers to trigger their solutions, helping to rapidly spread multiple technologies that will save thousands of lives every year. No other technology can match our patent-pending approach, and only Cellcontrol can give OEMs the ability to build in this powerful safety feature."
About Cellcontrol
Cellcontrol, based in Baton Rouge, La., is the most accurate, secure and dependable solution for distracted driving caused by cellular phones and other mobile devices. Cellcontrol uses the automobile's computer and phone/device software to put a stop to texting, e-mail, Web browsing and phone use while operating a vehicle, and to record key telematics parameters for one vehicle or a fleet. For more information on Cellcontrol, go to Cellcontrol.
Cellcontrol is a registered trademark of obdEdge, a Baton Rouge, Louisiana based company.
