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Can Your Car Save Your Life?<br />
By: BJ Killeen / Down the Road<br />
You’re driving down the highway by yourself<br />
to visit some friends in your new car.<br />
Suddenly you feel faint, and you are having sharp<br />
pains in your chest.<br />
You are able to pull to the side of the road, but that’s about all you<br />
can do before you collapse. Now what?<br />
In the not too distant future, your vehicle will be able to save your<br />
life. No, it won’t have arms that reach out and perform CPR, but it will<br />
have a feature called “Active Health Monitoring”, where it will be able<br />
to monitor your pulse rate, blood sugar level, blood pressure and other<br />
vital signs.<br />
Once it recognizes that your body is in distress, it will be able to call<br />
emergency services - even if you are unconscious. This may sound a<br />
little creepy, but we are already seeing some of this technology in the<br />
new Apple Watch. Which means it won’t be long before it migrates to<br />
automobiles.<br />
Not only will your car be able to monitor you, but if you did happen<br />
to pass out behind the wheel, the car would be able to maneuver safely<br />
to the side of the road by itself as well. Think of how this might help<br />
save a bus full of children if something happens to the driver - or to any<br />
of your elderly friends and relatives.<br />
Mercedes-Benz and Ford are just two of the car manufacturers that<br />
are experimenting with this technology and testing it on vehicles. <strong>The</strong><br />
monitors are located in the seat and can gather biological as well as<br />
behavioral data on the driver.<br />
Some of these systems will be able to monitor the driver’s vital signs<br />
before the vehicle can start to make sure the driver isn’t impaired. This<br />
can stop drunk driving and will save lives.<br />
While some will lament the loss of privacy, rest assured that the<br />
manufacturers are working to make sure the HIPAA rules will be<br />
followed. Just one more way your car can bring you peace of mind.<br />
BJ Killeen has been an automotive journalist for over 30 years.<br />
She welcomes all questions and inquiries, and can be reached at<br />
bjkdtr@gmail.com<br />
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