https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFfcztm–zw
Article by Marcus Siu
How often do we notice drivers driving erratically and weaving on the roads, most likely from making or receiving calls on their cell phone? Or even worse, texting with their eyes glued to their phone to ensure their spelling is correct while driving at maximum speeds on the highway? Or perhaps, someone who is distracted because they don’t have their “Green Day” song playing in the background, so they have to search for a certain radio station or CD that is shoved in the glove compartment, unknowingly endangering the drivers and the cars around them.
I think it’s pretty safe to say “all the time”.
In fact, the National Safety Council reports that cell phone use while driving leads to 1.6 million crashes each year. Nearly 330,000 injuries occur each year from accidents caused by texting while driving. 1 out of every 4 car accidents in the United States is caused by texting and driving.
Unfortunately it’s just getting worse for more and more drivers on the road, including the ones with good driving records. Along with traffic congestion, increasing commute times, and the number of insane people who have to be on a social network 24-7, it is increasingly getting dangerous on the roads for all of us.
However, wouldn’t it be great if we had a personal assistant in our car to make our calls and texts and answer our questions when needed, keeping our hands on the wheel at all times? Wouldn’t it be great to hear a voice activated “Whatapp” or “Messanger” text and being able to reply back without having to take your hands off the wheel? Or to just play certain music just by using voice activation? Wouldn’t it be great to just concentrate on the road and never be ever distracted again?
Thanks to Logitech’s ZeroTouch, this has become a reality. All you need is a car with Bluetooth connection, an Android smartphone, and a ZeroTouch.
ZeroTouch is a device that extends the typical smartphone into a voice activated controller that acts like a personal A.I. assistant. This makes hands free driving possible while texting and calling, as well as everything else you would want to do on your phone, without actually having to touch it and keep your eyes off the road. The most you would do with your hands is a high-five or a wave over it, which wakes it up. Driving with a cell phone in your car is now safer than ever.
With a ZeroTouch dashboard mount and my smartphone with the Zero Touch app, my dumb-car is now a smart car, turning it into a hands free device and also a “connected car” at the same time. A magnetic dock holds your smartphone onto the mount in full view while driving and the app runs the commands. You just need to make sure that your smartphone is set for Bluetooth and location in the settings.
For the last few months, I’ve been using this wonderful device and it really has become part of my daily routine, and I really don’t know how I was able to cope without it before owning one. This device is a life saver, as I no longer have to put myself in danger by looking away from the road while driving. Instantly, with the wave of your hand over your smartphone, Zero Touch opens up to your commands. You can use it as a GPS to “Navigate” where you want to go. You can “call” or text anyone in your contacts. You can stream a song or artist on Spotify or Pandora, or even check for reviews of restaurants, even without even touching the device.
However, I wish the navigation maps were a little better with ZeroTouch. I asked to navigate to “CVS”, thinking it would take me to the nearest one location, but it gave me another CVS which was several miles further. I also had issues when asking it to navigate to Frys Electronics, as it was never clear which store location it had found.
Hopefully, these bugs can clearly be corrected on a future update.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xthHAzyCIGQ
ZeroTouch did include a great update, as it has incorporated Amazon’s Alexa onto their app. So that covers just about everything else you need for an assistant. Therefore you can ask it anything else you want, including the latest news, up-to-date traffic and weather, the sports score, just about anything you can think of. You can even have it control your smart home’s lights, security, appliances, etc.
For the Alexa owners of the Echo and the Dot who wished they had one in their car, this is it. It’s the exact same software, but it will use your car speakers instead. ZeroTouch is the only car phone holder with voice control and Alexa integration.
Even with the issues that I have encountered, I still think this is the greatest invention since connected homes…
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