Kee

is a safe alternative designed to help eliminate automobile fatalities due to texting while driving. Teen drivers are most likely to be involved in an accident due to distracted driving. Kee takes the phone out of the driver's hands by replacing its function during driving conditions. Kee was developed as a semester-long project with team members Gary Domke, Ben Howard, Brian Mason, George Ressler, and myself. We entered this project into the 2010 James Dyson Design Competition, and became one of three national finalists.

The dangers of texting and driving are only just now being realized. The current generation of teens has never been without a cell phone.

As of 2010, 30 states have legislation on texting while driving, Yet the number of cell phone related crashes is increasing.

Several companies already have a solution to this problem. We asked ourselves, why then is the problem still growing? Existing solutions to the problem approach it with pure technology. They all have some sort of device that simply disables the phone. That is fine as long as people buy and install one in every car or phone. This led to a key question, how can we make teens want to have a product like this?

Our solution had to have a technology component to it as well. The rule is no driving while using a cell phone. This meant that the phone had to be disabled in some way. We first looked at radio frequency identification, or RFID technology. Phones are soon to be enabled with such technology. This could work in the future, but we need a solution now.

We decided on a physical disruption in the ignition system circuit. Essentially the phone becomes your key, that is your "Kee".

The incentive to want to plug the phone into the car deals with capabilities that the phone already posses. It can act as a car stereo and navigation device.

Quick prototypes of what and where the device should be.

Your phone becomes part of the car stereo. This enables linkages between GPS, internet radio, and mp3. Playlists and routes are predetermined to allow for a distraction free ride.