Auto Infotainment Firm Invited To D.C. Event
Mouhamad A. Naboulsi, president of West Bloomfield Township-based Applied Computer Technologies Inc., has been invited as one of 200 driver distraction and human factors experts to attend the driver distraction summit organized by federal Transportation Secretary Raymond LaHood on Tuesday, Sept. 21.
This is the second year in a row that this event takes place emphasizing the DOT and society interest in solving the driver distraction caused by technology.
"We had a lot to say last year and this year, we will display our functional prototype for all attendees," Naboulsi said.
Nablousi said his company's system is based on two decades of research through observations, focus groups and market research. He believes that a ban to prevent the public from using cell phones while driving won't work. He said his reserach also showed that the public is not interested in just adding more technology to the vehicle, but 88 percent of surveyed drivers said they ready for a system that actively protects drivers from distraction and accidents caused by cell phone and other in-vehicle technology.
The technology, iQ-Wheel, was prototyped in 2000-02 and received its first U.S. patent in February 2004, 6,731,925 under the description of Safe Telematics Monitoring and Control Gateway, with nine more subjects pending in three patents in the U.S. and EU.
More at www.distraction.gov/2010summit.
