Never look at your phone while driving again

We all know that using our phones whilst driving is a no-no.It is distracting and potentially lethal. The use of mobile phone whilst driving has been linked directly to car accidents around the world forcing Governments to realise that they need to intervene and introduced heavy fines in order to try curve this “must connect” trend.

However, even with these legislations our need to instantly answer messages when hearing the beep seems to be integrated into  our automatic involuntary reaction.

Instead of ignoring the issue,  an Israeli company called Project Ray decided to tackle the issue head on.  The company specialises in creating software for the visually impaired and the blind that allows them to use their smartphone app. Project Ray adapted its software technology which doesn’t require the user to see the phone and created RayGo – a kickstarter project that allows the driver to view messages without taking eyes off the road.

How does it work ?

The system is made up of two components: software and hardware. The software is installed on your mobile phone and as soon as it senses that the car is moving, it automatically switches on DriveMode. In this mode the phone’s screen has a simplified version of the app.

The hardware is made up of a unit that clips on your the steering wheel and has five buttons: up, down, left, right and select. When a message comes in, the RayGo software will then read the messages allowing you to respond by recording a voice message or sending a pre-scripted notification that you are driving.

Another feature of the system is that when it senses that the driver should be focusing on the road such as during lots of turns, start stop situations, it holds back the alerts and doesn’t play your messages so you can focus on the road.

At launch, RayGo will work with WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Spotify, Gmail, SMS and telephone apps with more apps like Skype to follow.