Here's How iOS 11's Do Not Disturb While Driving Feature Works

How does it work with Waze? AFAIK, in iOS 10, Do Not Disturb doesn't work when the screen is unlocked, as it is when you are using Waze.

 

What's the difference between the normal "do not disturb" and the new "do not disturb while driving"?

 

If a human can determine whether they are sitting in the drivers seat, then so can a device using machine learning plus sensors. The right and left side of a car feel different during turns and over bumps, plus the view from the front camera is lighted at a different angle.

 

There are a couple of key differences. First, it's activated automatically by cues which indicate that you may be driving, such as high speed motion or connecting to your car via Bluetooth. These can sometimes be miscues, such as when you're in the passenger seat; when that happens, it's pretty easy to disable... you just tell your phone you're not driving. Second, the feature can send a set of text messages to anyone who texts you, to let them know that you're driving, and haven't seen their message yet. They are also informed that if they need your attention immediately, they can send a follow-up text to break through the do-not-disturb feature.

Those are the most important differences. An important similarity is that it's entirely optional.

 

Some countries have the steering wheel on the right side.

But I get your point, there's currently no way for the phone to know if you're driving

 

GPS and the radius of right versus left turns can predict on which side of the road a vehicle is driving.

With iOS 11 and the new machine learning MLKit doing photo recognition, an app on an iPhone can tell if a photo of the steering wheel, taken while the vehicle is moving, shows two hands on it, and with decent reliability. Hard to take that photo if you are driving. Some student at a hackathon has probably already done that after reading this, and before you find this reply.

That's just a few of probably hundreds of different cool ways that an iPhone can detect the likelihood of you being in the drivers seat of a moving vehicle, or not.

 

None of those things can reliably tell if you are the driver or a passenger.
I usually have my phone on the passenger seat or in a dock slightly right of the center of the car, but sometimes it's in my left pocket.
Not sure where you are going with the camera, what should the phone decide in your example?

 

It may be opt in, but I've already been nagged twice about it, when travelling on the train, so let's see how it goes.

 

For safety, once it feels a car moving faster than walking speed, it should assume driving, and not interrupt you unless you do something with it a driver can’t do.

 

And what would that be?
I really can't imagine anything I couldn't do with the phone that the person sitting next to me in the passenger seat can do.
Speculating, faceid could probably work with detecting that you are looking at the screen constantly but I'm pretty sure that's a bad idea, some people would probably try to do that while driving anyway and it would be even more dangerous.

 

FaceID can probably not only tell Apple where in the car you are sitting, but the make and model and whether you need to wash the windows as well.

 

Same here. Nagged walking from house to car. Whatever logic they're using seems flawed.

 

Except when the train tracks are near a frontage road for a good distance, a mobile GPS should be able to tell the difference. Hopefully they fix this before the nagging becomes mandatory legally.

 

Shut yer mouth! This nonsense better never become mandatory. I can't imagine any state beside the nanny state of Cali making it mandatory.

 

If texting drivers kill as many people as do drunks and people not using seatbelts, “ Mothers against Texting Drivers” will be protesting all over the country against Driving mode not being mandatory. Every new mobile phone will be required to have the capability.

This will annoy all passengers who will have to lean some new trick to turn it off during every ride.

**But**, Apple will have the best trick (something that no driver who is not a circus gymnast or professional magician can do) for passengers turn it off.

 

All I can say is you better be wrong! I hate the Nanny State. Idiots have been driving distracted for years, reading books, putting on makeup, eating, yelling at the kids etc. People need to take personal responsibility for behavior. I don't want to be inconvenienced because some idiot killed someone driving while distracted. Punish the irresponsible morons, but let's not make the rest of us suffer annoyance.

And yes I know I'll likely be really annoyed if one of those idiots kills me.

 

If it can be turned off, then what's the point? Teenagers are just going to keep it off while driving.

 

If they get caught driving with it off, or worse yet have an accident when the phone records that this feature was off, there will eventually be laws fining or sticking those teenagers in jail. That will affect the percentage who keep it on, and thus slightly improve road safety. Every little bit counts. A perfectly good point.

Until self-driving cars make teenage driving completely illegal in most situations.

 

Yes, but that won't help the family who's loved one was killed by the teenager that turned the feature off. And if the teenager even goes to jail, they'll get out early and their record will be sealed for being a minor. Yeah, justice!