Asides

Safer driving with hands-free texting

Researchers at Clemson University’s Human Centered Computing Lab (HCCL) have developed a hands-free alternative to cell phone texting while driving.

The team at the Universities Human Centered Computing Division has created an application called VoiceTEXT that allows drivers to speak text messages and keep their eyes on the road at the same time.

VoiceTEXT works by connecting a cell phone to an in-car hands-free system and setting it to “vocal” mode. According to Ars Technica, this action connects the phone to a central server, which can then record and send messages. The message is then transmitted as a voicemail message, an e-mail with a link to the message audio file, or transcribed using speech recognition software and sent as an SMS message. The format delivered is dependent on the status of the receiving phone. So text messages sent to the phone in “vocal” mode can be read aloud to the driver using text-to-speech software.

Ars Technica learned that individual apps could be made for different phones to make activation and interfacing with the server even easier. For instance, apps can be used to upload contact data to the server, which is needed to interpret voice commands for selecting a recipient of a message.

Similar functionality is available from smartphones such as those equipped with voice SMS, or in the case of the iPhone, the Voice Control feature.

Source: Chris Jablonski

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