Apple Sued for Choosing Not to 'Lock-Out' iPhones Behind the Wheel to Prevent Texting and Driving

[Mick-Mac]

How about also locking out all of the utterly mentally designed car GUIs (e.g. Toyota's entune) while you're driving.
And to think amidst all this stupidity there is a lawyer getting paid...

 

[Windlasher]

Wow, americans need to be babied like this? Just put the damn phone down and use it when you're at your destination. Not hard.

Why "Americans?" Don't lump me in the same category as some idiot looking for his 15 minutes.

 

[slineaudi]

Apple does lock you out of texting when you have you're iphone plugged into a CarPlay compatible car. It makes you use the CarPlay interface with voice dictation. I think that's a fair enough approach it.

 

[iPhysicist]

Wow! Just OMG WOW!

 

[Mick-Mac]

Wow, americans need to be babied like this? Just put the damn phone down and use it when you're at your destination. Not hard.

American's have better lawyers than anybody else on the planet, and this proves it.

 

[ugahairydawgs]

Wow, americans need to be babied like this? Just put the damn phone down and use it when you're at your destination. Not hard.

To most Americans the State of California is the crazy uncle that you have in your family that everyone tolerates because he's blood, but most try to steer clear of outside of family reunions.

Truth be told, even most Californians would probably roll their eyes at a story like this.

 

[MadGoat]

That's going to be a long road trip as a passenger!

... Or they/you can do like what we all did in the old days and still do... look outside, read a book, play games ..... *gasp* talk.

 

[cyberlocke]

I've got a better idea: stop the sale of automatic transmissions. It's a good deal harder to text and drive when you have to shift every 10 seconds. Besides, people have to actually learn a little about their cars to drive a manual, making us all a little bit smarter. Oh, and it's a lot more fun.

OK, I'm done.

 

[AngerDanger]

Aaand now I bet Apple's wishing they didn't reject my offer to sell my patent for "A Method Whereby Tim Cook Comes to Your House and Rides with You Wherever You Go, Stopping You from Taking Your Eyes off the Road."

 

[scapegoat81]

The joys of being a billion dollar company

 

[Apple 26.2]

I seriously wish I were skilled enough to develop an app for device manufacturers that would help phones determine if the user were the driver of a car or a passenger on a train.

My heart aches for that Texas family, but.. personal accountability - where has it gone?

 

[Septembersrain]

So he's going after the company instead of the root problem, which are the habits of the drivers?

So people get locked out while driving, they get a different phone brand? What then?

The culture of restriction instead of education is just a sad aspect.

 

[Chicane-UK]

How does garbage like this even get to court.

While this will go nowhere, and may be extreme. Something needs to be done about phone usage when driving. I stopped commuting by bike because of too many close calls with texting/facebooking drivers.

I don't see how this is for phone manufacturers to solve. A country / state implements a law, and it's down to the driver of the vehicle to respect it. If they don't they get punished. Simple.

 

[Infernos]

Talk about abdicating your personal responsibility as an adult with no self control.

 

[handsome pete]

Adults are responsible for their own actions.

Unfortunately those actions can take out responsible and innocent adults in their wake.

Though yes, I agree this lawsuit is monumentally stupid and the plaintiff should be mocked.

 

[applexpanther]

Sue mcdonalds for not refusing to make me fat.

 

[MrShoehorn]

What is this guys IQ.... 25? If your phone was disabled while in the car, how are you going to call 911? Your phone is bricked!

This whole thing is stupid and is just a money grab, but technically you'd just make it like a locked iPhone where you can only make emergency calls.

 

[nwcs]

Also need to sue schools for teaching how to write, car manufacturers for making cars, and phone companies for making cell towers. And the government should be included because they allowed it to happen at all.

This suit has no merit. Texting and driving is absolutely stupid to do and far too many people drive distractedly. This isn't the way to resolve that.

 

[groovyd]

Stupid. Just stupid. If this was a 'feature', passengers couldn't use their devices.

entirely possible to just disable the driver seat devices using low power rfid or steering wheel proximity sensing.

 

[8281]

Any serious accident is a tragedy, especially one ending in a death, but these claims are absurd. People are dumb and will always find a way to be dumb. We don't blame Budweiser for the drunk driver.

 

[toph2toast]

I don't know if there are any public roads in the US where you can drive over 85 MPH legally, yet car manufacturers still make cars that can go 140 MPH, 160 MPH, 200 MPH, etc, etc.

Since when do we need a company to guard us against personal responsibility and common sense?

This is like suing Budweiser if you drink and drive.

 

[Xbfryfd]

Considering that they want a software update, they should be going to google to implement the feature on android, because they have the majority of the market

 

[MrGimper]

Sums it up really

 

[NachoGrande]

We live in a world loaded with little snow flakes that cannot think for themselves. My "lockout" feature is my pocket. I don't glance at my phone not even once. I'll admit when I first got my smart phone I was always looking down at my phone... I smartened up.

 

[8281]

While this will go nowhere, and may be extreme. Something needs to be done about phone usage when driving. I stopped commuting by bike because of too many close calls with texting/facebooking drivers.

Self-driving cars are the solution.

 

[MrShoehorn]

While this will go nowhere, and may be extreme. Something needs to be done about phone usage when driving. I stopped commuting by bike because of too many close calls with texting/facebooking drivers.

It's the same as drunk driving, make it illegal across the US, but actually have significant penalties and people won't do it.