CrashAlert provides peripheral information while texting-and-walking

CrashAlert: Enhancing Peripheral Alertness for Eyes-Busy Mobile Interaction while Walking

Mobile device use while walking, or eyes-busy mobile in-teraction, is a leading cause of life-threatening pedestrian collisions. We introduce CrashAlert, a system that aug-ments mobile devices with a depth camera, to provide dis-tance and location visual cues of obstacles on the user’s path. In a realistic environment outside the lab, CrashAlert users improve their handling of potential collisions, dodg-ing and slowing down for simple ones while lifting their head in more complex situations. Qualitative results outline the value of extending users’ peripheral alertness in eyes-busy mobile interaction through non-intrusive depth cues, as used in CrashAlert. We present the design features of our system and lessons learned from our evaluation.

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CrashAlert has received plenty of media attention:

• MIT Technology Review – Safe Texting While Walking? Soon, There May Be an App for That – [online]
• Asia One – New app to save you from embarrassing tumbles – [online]
• Discovery News – CrashAlert App Clears Way to Walk and Text – [online]
• Forbes – 3D Sensors Give Vision To CrashAlert App – [online]
• BBC News – Avoiding the pitfalls of texting and walking – [online]
• CTV Prime time news - [online]
• CBC Prime time news- [online]

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