Detroit MI Drivers Learn About a New Way to Communicate with Each Other On the Road

Nov. 12, 2010 - PRLog -- DETROIT – Detroit MI is widely recognized for car manufacturing and car culture, but how far would residents to communicate with their fellow drivers?
One of the most integral parts of driving a car is the license plate. It’s the key to the road. At least the key to legally drive on the road, but will those in Detroit MI embrace a new social network service called Bump that requires users to register their license plates?
Imagine being able to let someone know they’ve left their lights on long after they’ve left the parking lot. What about being able to stop the nuisance of car alarms late at night when the owner of the car is not home? Or as a solution to missed opportunities—and what could be the most disturbing aspect of this new service and making it a breeding ground for stalkers—send a stranger a text message or directly call them after seeing their car go by.
All these ideas, no matter how frightening or helpful, are in fact possibilities with Bump.com
“Bump” is a social network built around license plates is being developed by a company in California. The social network is currently a beta service, meaning it’s still seeking investors and in testing phase, but users can join right now.
If Detroit MI drivers wanted to participate, they’d go to the Bump.com website and claim their license plate by registering their license plate number, state, username, first name, last name, and password. The user registering his license plate in the “How To” video was named John Mclovin. Anyone who has seen the movie Superbad will understand the humor here. VIN numbers are also incorporated to alert Bump if someone has registered his or her license plate without permission or entered it by mistake.
There is one integral requirement for the social network service to work. The person who is to be “bumped” by another person by capturing his or her vehicle’s license plate must be registered with the website. If someone has been cut off by a driver in traffic, his or her attempts to verbally assault the offender will go unread if the rude driver is not a member of the social network. In that case, drivers could always go the old fashioned route and use sign language.
There are six videos on the website showing examples of when people would use Bump, two of which are about flirting. In one scene, two cars pull up side-by-side and boy can’t hit on girl because her music is too loud; she can’t hear him. As she pulls away, he is able to read her license plate, and stalk track her down by using the Bump network in order to get his harassing message across. In another scene a woman is standing on the street corner—not that type of street corner—and a man passes her by. They make eye contact, but the light turns green and he drives away. She whips out her camera phone, takes a picture of the license plate and uses an app to connect to him through Bump by calling him on his phone.
But it’s not just a source for picking up the opposite sex. It will be used to pick up customers, too.
According to a story appearing in Venture Beat, marketers will have loads of opportunity:
“If you go to a McDonald’s regularly, the security camera could capture your license plate and recognize that you’ve come to the fast food joint about 112 times in the past year. It could recommend that the clerk suggest french fries, as is your habit.”
Mitch Thrower who is the chief executive of Bump Network said, “It’s kind of like a national, social-networked 1-800-How’s-My-Driving?”
Sure but would people become better drivers or more distracted drivers when using this network on the road? An accelerometer app for iPhones has been developed that supposedly prevents the driver from using the Bump system when driving faster than 5 mph.
It’s an interesting service but we at MI Auto Times can’t help but wonder what the negative repercussions will be.
Visit http://www.miautotimes.com to follow continued coverage of the announcement.
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[Source(s): VentureBeat, Bump.com]
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