Driving is an essential part of our daily activities. Google thinks so as well and has been thinking how to make Android devices better and safer for their users. How we can prevent distracted driving and together build an open ecosystem to enable safety first smartphone experiences.
Recently they have come up with ‘Driving Do-Not-Disturb’ on the newly announced Pixel 2 generation of devices. Once enabled, Driving Do-Not-Disturb automatically puts your device into a do not disturb mode while driving. During this mode, any incoming messages and notifications are silenced while you can still receive incoming calls, navigation directions and voice interactions using a connected Car Bluetooth. The product is designed to limit distractions during driving while at the same time not getting in the way so users can continue to use the navigation or other similar apps with minimal friction.
Behind the scenes, it uses AI-powered on-device Activity Recognition that detects when a person is driving using low power signals from multiple sensors, Bluetooth and WiFi. Activity Recognition uses the Android Sensor Hub to ensure low latency, low power, and accurate driving detection.
Early next year, Google is going to open up this Activity Recognition Transition API used by Driving DND so that other developers can build distraction-free driving experiences.
Google's ‘Driving Do-Not-Disturb’ Mode
