Watch How Google Glass Works in the Car

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INRIX Google Glass app

Google Glass–Google’s eyeglasses with a built-in computer– may be a killer app for the car, say some technology experts.

Google Glass essentially turns your field of vision into a computer screen.  You control the glasses by voice or by tapping on the frames.  It acts much as a heads up display—showing you directions, or traffic updates  in your peripheral vision so you stay focused on the road.

Watch the video  of “Glass” in action in the car.

Here  a driver  uses a new traffic app from INRIX  that works with Glass. Since “Glass” lets you snap a picture by voice command and share it, you can take instant photos of traffic problems and report them to INRIX. The app gives you traffic updates as you drive, displayed in your peripheral vision.

Google GlassGoogle Glass is in beta test mode with thousands of testers (called “Glass” Explorers) many of whom paid $1,500 for the privilege.   There’s no word yet on the final price or launch plans.

Some of the Glass Explorers believe the car is a great place to use the technology. Wired.com called Glass “the killer app for your car.”

Mercedes Benz is working on ways to use Glass in the car and Tesla already has an app for it to show battery information and other data.

But others, including NAV-TV’s Derek Schmiedl, say its too distracting for the car.  It can present too much information to the driver,  even if it’s displayed on the periphery.    In fact, lawmakers in West Virginia and the UK are seeking to ban Google Glass in autos. And the folks at Phandroid say the voice quality of Glass is poor in noisy conditions, another problem for the automobile unless it is improved by commercial launch. (Volume control may be improved in the future, says Slashgear).  (scroll down to continue reading)

Google Glass in the car

“Since Google Glass  uses speech recognition extensively, there are plenty of uses for it in the car,” said analyst Chris Schreiner of Strategy Analytics.  He also notes that a new music player card would make it even more attractive for car use.  But he points out that legislation may hamper use of Glass in autos and he personally believes the display, even if transparent, can block the view of the driver, perhaps preventing one from seeing a pedestrian. Since the glasses can move, it can be more dangerous than a heads up display, he said.

INRIX sees it differently. Spokesman Jim Bak said, “We now have more data available that can help drivers, but we need to find a better way to present it to drivers so they don’t end up as the next accident…So when Google Glass came out, we were very intrigued by the opportunity, ”  He added.  “It’s kind of like a heads up display.”

INRIX, for example, knows through crowd sourced info, when a lot of cars are suddenly braking in icy weather.

“We’re looking at the data coming off the car and it tells us how ABS are performing on the vehicles on the road.  So in a weather event, you can alert drivers to say this is the fastest route, but this is the safest…From our perspective, it can be an enhancement to driver safety.”

The INRIX Traffic 5.0 app that works with Glass launched Thursday as did another Glass application for use by police in the car from Stalker Radar. It integrates the CopTrax in-car video solution with Google Glass.

It also appears that new uses for Glass apart from the car are cropping up weekly.  A Business Insider story Wednesday, said doctors may be able to use it to instantly view a patient’s recent MRI  or X-ray.

Source: INRIX

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