Make a third-party, augmented reality platform for driving, platform independent so it drives competition to quickly improve.
Will improve safety, driver wakefulness, driver awareness of environment, and so on. Also may provide an open platform on which to develop smart systems (like following other cars or warning about road conditions in the next mile that other cars have seen) that work on any brand of car.
Components:
- Imaging sensors such as infrared, microwave or something else distributed mostly in front of the car, some behind, a little on the sides. Use something that cuts through mist, snow, rain, smog so you can see the sides of the road in freezing mist or see a deer in the road far away at night. Also some low light sensors might be good to pick up where the taillights of cars in front of you are.
- Displays: Google Glass might be perfect. HUD might be useful or something else. I like the idea of being able to take glasses off but an HUD that always will tell any driver what is standing in the road waiting for you to hit it at night would be a very good idea.
- Processing hardware: competition among 3rd party manufacturers. Best if not tied to a certain model car, though BMW or Mercedes can certainly add more expensive sensors, etc.
- Processing software framework: Open platform
- Processing algorithms and engine: Similar competition, though if Google can't win this they better send their guys back to Carnegie Mellon
I am willing to bet the insurance companies will love you to death and then get that stupid law deleted, all you need to do is disable messaging and go into a drive mode as someone else mentioned when you are in motion. Though reading text aloud or letting you send voice messages via voice controlled functionality sounds like it would be not as bad as talking to someone in the car who is with you.