{"id":28231,"date":"2020-08-27T12:38:08","date_gmt":"2020-08-27T16:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/?p=28231"},"modified":"2020-08-21T17:42:32","modified_gmt":"2020-08-21T21:42:32","slug":"tesla-implements-my-kid-in-hot-car-alarm-17-years-later","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/2020\/08\/27\/tesla-implements-my-kid-in-hot-car-alarm-17-years-later\/","title":{"rendered":"Tesla implements my kid-in-hot-car alarm 17 years later"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>From 2003, <a href=\"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/2003\/08\/27\/lack-of-wireless-internet-killing-children\/\">&#8220;Lack of wireless Internet killing children&#8221;<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>A recent AP story talks about the increasing number of children dying after being left in sealed cars by mistake. As a society we have 99% of the infrastructure necessary to prevent this. Most newer cars have an alarm system and automatic climate control. The alarm system implies a vibration sensor, a microphone (for glass breakage), and a little computer that is up and running all the time. The automatic climate control implies an interior thermometer.<\/p><p>With a bit of programming the car can recognize that (a) someone is inside the car making noise and moving around a bit, and (b) that the temperature is climbing to an unsafe level (or getting too cold in the winter). Now what? If we had a wireless Internet for the price of $3 in chips the car would be able to send an instant message to the owner and the local police to come back and check the car. (Of course you could do this now if you wanted to buy a $300\/year cell phone subscription for the car, which is essentially what the GM OnStar system does, but most people wouldn\u2019t be willing to pay the extra $300\/year for something with such a low probability of ever being used. Hence the need for a better national infrastructure.)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>From last week, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-tesla-safety\/tesla-seeks-approval-for-sensor-that-could-detect-child-left-in-hot-cars-idUSKBN25G2GY\">&#8220;Tesla seeks approval for sensor that could detect child left in hot cars&#8221;<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>Tesla Inc. asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for approval to market a short-range interactive motion-sensing device that could help prevent children from being left behind in hot cars and boost theft-prevention systems.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>So it wasn&#8217;t a terrible idea, but it did arrive 17 years after I thought it should have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Related:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/2003\/06\/20\/carkennel\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"285\">Car\/Kennel<\/a> (my 2003 plan for something like Tesla&#8217;s Dog Mode)<\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From 2003, &#8220;Lack of wireless Internet killing children&#8221;: A recent AP story talks about the increasing number of children dying after being left in sealed cars by mistake. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cars-including-self-driving"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Tesla implements my kid-in-hot-car alarm 17 years later - Philip Greenspun\u2019s Weblog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/2020\/08\/27\/tesla-implements-my-kid-in-hot-car-alarm-17-years-later\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tesla implements my kid-in-hot-car alarm 17 years later - Philip Greenspun\u2019s Weblog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"From 2003, &#8220;Lack of wireless Internet killing children&#8221;: A recent AP story talks about the increasing number of children dying after being left in sealed cars by mistake. 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