Hands on steering wheel vehicle safety control system

摘要

The present invention provides a safety control system for a vehicle with controls located on the vehicle steering wheel. The controls maybe arranged in a cluster on one or both sides of the upper half of the steering wheel. The controls can be located in areas of the steering wheel including the spokes, the rim or a special flange extended from the rim or the spoke of the steering wheel and are easily recognizable and accessible by the driver while the driver is looking ahead from a normal driving position with the driver's eyes focused on the road and maintaining the driver's hands on the steering wheel. The controls can be further enhanced by varied coloring, shape, size, and texture to make them easily identifiable. The controls can be used to access and control vehicle systems or portable telematics devices in multi modal process in conjunction with thumb gesture interpretation or speech recognition. A further enhancement to the system is the introduction of a universal portable devices docking station to eliminate falling devices and the consequences of accident.

主权项

1. A safety control system for vehicles having at least one vehicle controller with at least one program and memory to store the at least one program and operation parameters and a hand free communication system, the safety control system comprising:
a sensor to detect a portable multifunctional telematics devices; a sensor to physically detect whether the portable multifunctional telematics device is physically docked in a cradle; and a communication controller in communication with the at least one vehicle controller wherein upon detecting a starting operation of the vehicle, the communication control will determine if the portable multifunctional telematics device is not physically docked in the cradle and will issue a signal limiting the drivability of the vehicle and the operation of the portable multifunctional telematics device if the portable multifunctional telematics device is not docked in the cradle.