The agency lives in a world where the range of low-power signal jammer can be up to 30 feet, and more advanced gears can block all football-sized transmissions. These obviously raise public safety concerns.
However, what if small-scale interference technology can be installed on a steering wheel that is only inches away - not enough to affect surrounding vehicles, or even other occupants of the car? car, and enough to keep the driver from getting stupid?
What if the technology is flexible enough not to interfere with medical devices such as pacemakers or insulin pumps? Or use streaming music services?
What if, more importantly, it doesn't handle law enforcement or emergency calls?
“It can be done,” said Todd Humphreys, associate professor of engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. "After being properly calibrated, the wave jammer is enough to make the driver's phone near the steering wheel unbearable, but not enough to make the passenger's cell phone. "
He said the jammer can use the algorithm to adjust its output for the change in the signal strength of the cell when the vehicle is driving, so that the interference field remains consistent.
However, there will always be human factors.
Humphries rightly pointed out that a handful of drivers (my words, not his words) would like to avoid areas of interference by keeping their phones away from their arms or tilting them back to sit in their seats. .
He said: “It could lead to a more dangerous situation than what we are trying to avoid. "
T. Charles Clancy, executive director of the Hume National Security and Technology Center at Virginia Tech, has the same idea.
He said, “If you're going to text and drive now, you'll be using whatever scale you need to overcome interference technology. "
According to A. Lee Swindlehurst, professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the University of California at Irvine, the thing is, "No matter where the driver holds the phone, he can find the best place where only the driver's device is. blocked. "
He said this is technically feasible, “but it will be a difficult design. "
Maybe we don't want to go down the path of interference. Perhaps on the contrary, we equip all cellphones with equipment so that if their sensors and cameras can detect movement, or if they see the user quickly raising and lowering their eyes while driving, SMS is not authorized.
Marwan Krunz, professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Arizona, said it is also possible to develop phone jammers to block incoming signals but not outgoing calls (which may solve the problem of emergency situations).
The point is, as long as federal authorities are prepared to change, there are potential solutions.
The Florida native has been fined $ 48,000 and has been interfering with the cell phones of people on the highway for several years. He was charged with "using illegal material" and told to stop him.