Video: Drive your car with iPhone app
Wednesday October 28 2009
An iPhone appliance that allows motorists to drive a car using their mobile phone has been developed by German researchers.
The iDriver app converts the iPhone into a the real-life equivalent of a video game controller, capable of directing the progress of a two-tonne minivan.
The app has separate buttons for accelerating and braking, along with a steering wheel that exploits the iPhone's motion-sensitive capabilities.
The app, which is not yet commercially available, is the brainchild of researchers from the artificial intelligence team at the Free University of Berlin.
In test drives on a reassuringly deserted runway at the city's Tempelhof Airport, the "Spirit of Berlin" car was filmed doing tight turns at the behest of an iPhone-wielding researcher standing several feet away.
Close-up footage shows the car's steering wheel turning as the 'driver' rotates the phone.
The app was created by the Appirion firm, which specialises in software for mobile phones.
While iDriver is believed to be the first car controller devised for the iPhone, it follows a spate of technological advances aimed at creating "autonomous vehicles" which are capable of driving themselves and reacting to their surroundings.
Irish Independent
