Currently, it has the size and shape of a breadbox. If two companies working together can fully avail themselves of the $2.25 million research grant they have just received from an automobile industry group, they will render it so tiny that it can be installed on a car's start button.
"It" is an on-board vehicle device that the federal government and a multitude of traffic safety groups hope will become standard vehicle equipment in future years. The device measures a driver's blood-alcohol content ("BAC") through an infrared sensor that takes measurements directly from the skin. The aim: to deter drunk driving. A car simply won't start if a would-be motorist's BAC is at the legal limit for intoxication.
The two companies currently working on this next-stage technology are Takata, a Japanese company with its American headquarters in Michigan, and TruTouch, a New Mexico enterprise. Takata and TruTouch are together focused on making improvements to the device sufficient to get it on the commercial market and, ultimately, in all passenger vehicles operating in the United States.
The grant will obviously help. It comes courtesy of the Automotive Coalition for Traffic Safety. With the infusion of research cash, the two business partners hope to achieve several breakthroughs with their product. In addition to reducing the size and sheer bulk of the present device, Takata and TruTouch hope to reduce its processing time to less than one second. Additionally, they foresee it working in the future within a wide range of temperatures and humidity levels.
It will conceivably be a few years before the research bears fruit. When it does, the companies anticipate that the device will cost about $200 per unit.
Related Resource: USA Today, "Anti-DUI device detects alcohol levels through skin" Sept. 28, 2011
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