Overview
It's 2am and time to leave your watering hole of choice for the evening and catch a cab home. You reach your destination, pay and crash on the bed. In the morning you wake and reach for your phone to remember the night before only to realise you left it in the vehicle. Oh poop.
That could soon be a thing of the past thanks to innovative new technology co-created by Japanese companies Kokusai Motorcars and Ideacross. Four cameras installed within the taxi — one beneath the driver's seat, one beneath the front passenger seat, one on the ceiling and one in the boot — photograph the interior and detect any changes in the environment, such as a phone or handbag that was previously absent, via comparison against previous images. If a change is detected then an alarm sounds, providing passengers the opportunity to collect their forgotten belongings before it is too late.
Obvious privacy concerns have been raised but the company has assured the Japanese public that any faces captured by the cameras will be unidentifiable. Signage will also be posted within all vehicles operating the system, which will soon be all 3100 Kokusai taxis, so that passengers are aware cameras are there.
Whilst only in Kokusai vehicles at the moment, the customer service benefits offered by the system will soon see other Japanese companies competing to install it in their vehicles. Hopefully I won't lose too many iPhones before something similar arrives on our shores.
Via PSFK.