Overview / Usage

In 2016, 3,450 people in the US alone were killed due to distracted drivers. In 2015, 3,477 people were killed and 391,000 were injured. This was my first attempt at solving this problem, to do that I created a car simulator where users can drive a car and experience the effects of texting and driving.

Methodology / Approach

I solved the problem described above based on the following assumption: Two hands have to be on the back of the phone at all times when moving to know that you are not the driver of the car. If the phone is moving and only one hand is on the back of the phone then is assumed that the other hand is on the steering wheel.

To do that I modified an Android launcher in conjunction with a capacitive sensor installed on the rear of the phone to lock or unlock the phone based on the number of hands that are in the phone.

Once the Android launcher is instantiated, the capacitive matrix installed on the rear of the phone obtains the number of fingers on the back of the phone and then either enables or disables certain apps of the phone. If the user tries to open one of the distracting applications with one hand the app will not open, but if the user tries to open a distracting application with both hands on the back of the phone then the app will open.

As proof of concept, I used a car video game to simulate the effects of texting and driving.

Technologies Used

Unity, Arduino and capacitative sensor.

Repository

https://github.com/egibert/KISS

Other links

• HackRU Spring 2018 1st Place Winner & Best Use of Technology