Some people are required to wear glasses while driving. But it might be frowned upon to wear Google Glass while driving.
A Southern California resident was cited for donning the wearable technology – and also allegedly speeding – in October by the California Highway Patrol. What is believed to be the first legal case over someone wearing the face-mounted mobile device while driving landed last week in a San Diego district court.
The driver was cleared because police couldn’t prove the device was on. If it was on, it could have violated a California law that prohibits video displays in the front seat of a car. The law was made to stop people from watching TV while driving.
In a statement reported by CNN, Google said Glass users should put safety first: "Glass is built to connect you more with the world around you, not distract you from it.”
The court case didn’t clarify whether it’s legal to use Google Glass while driving. Since the device wasn’t on, that call still comes down to individual police and individual judges.
In some ways, this can be viewed as a case of technology getting ahead of the rules, which happens too frequently in both driving and business.
A T-shirt maker recently went out of business, for example, because it relied on technology to make the T-shirts instead of using technology to enhance a rule-driven T-shirt making process. An analogous situation would be a driver using Google Glass to find a shortcut instead of following the rules that already get drivers safely to their destinations.
"Technology can enhance a process but only when done right. It takes knowing the rules, and in the cases of doing something new, being smart enough to create the right rules,” said Eric Alessi, president and CEO of Essent, which provides business analysis services and makes business management software for distributors and suppliers like those in the promotional products industry.
Essent delivers proven solutions that allow businesses to quickly and effectively follow their established, successful business rules. Technology that can follow the rules is important.
"That’s why we design our software to allow over one thousand configurable business rules to be set and automated, so companies can be on the leading edge, but not the bleeding edge," Mr. Alessi said.
CNN has the full story on the Google Glass case.
Essent previously envisioned
Google Glass for the promotional products industry.