UK To Impose Driving Ban On Google Glass

Google Glass hasn’t even been released officially and it already faces bans right and left. The UK Department for Transport wants to ban Google Glass when driving because it can distract the driver.

The Department for Transport reported that they are working with the police to make sure drivers aren’t going to use Google Glass behind the wheel because it can take attention from the road.

Lately more and more institutions and companies see Google Glass as an impediment instead of a helpful device. And we believe that the Department for Transport is wrong because the driver can receive navigational indications directly in his sight instead of taking his eyes of the road to look at the car’s built-in navigation system. And some could argue that you can watch something else on Glass, not just navigation. But that’s also available for the car’s built-in multimedia display. And one more advantage for Google Glass is that you can use it hands-free, while not many cars come with voice command features.

The UK Department for Transport hasn’t stated yet which laws Google Glass will break, but noted that they are working on it and will release a law soon.

Hopefully Google manages to talk them out of it, as it can be a really great companion while driving and could even increase the drive’s attention, instead of the opposite. Hopefully legislators will manage to see that and withdraw the ban.

Those bans could hurt Google Glass sales too, because potential buyers are going to realize they can’t do everything they want with the device, due to the fact that its being restricted in more and more placed. We expect it to be adopted more once it gets popular and people realize that privacy concerns are not that big and whoever wants to violate privacy isn’t going to place a camera on his head, but hide it carefully instead.

Google Glass has been banned already from companies and some casinos due to privacy concerns and it’s probably going to face even more bans once with the official release. And the weirdest ban it faced was at Google’s annual shareholders meeting.