Now, a device to guide drivers which way to go

American scientists have developed a new device which they say can help passengers draw the attention of cell phone yakking taxi drivers who often ignore their instructions to turn left or right.

Mounted on the steering wheel of the vehicle, the new touch-based directional devices can pull the skin of the driver's index fingertips left or right as per the direction of the passenger or navigation system.

Researchers at the University of Utah, who developed the device, said the idea behind their invention was not to encourage cell phone use while driving.

Instead, it was to help motorists and hearing-impaired people drive more safely.

The same technology could also help blind pedestrians with a cane that provides directional cues to the person's thumb, they said.

"It has the potential of being a safer way of doing what's already being done -- delivering information that people are already getting with in-car GPS navigation systems," said study author William Provancher, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Utah.

In addition, Provancher said, it 'could be used in a walking cane for the blind' with a moving button on the handle providing tactile navigation cues to help the person walk to the corner market.

"We are not saying people should drive and talk on a cell phone and that tactile [touch] navigation cues will keep you out of trouble," said Medeiros-Ward.

The study was conducted

Two of the devices to convey information by touch were attached to the simulator's steering wheel so one came in contact with the index finger on each of the driver's hands.

During driving, each index fingertip rested on a red TrackPoint cap from an IBM ThinkPad computer that look like the eraser on the end of a pencil.

When the drivers were supposed to turn left, the two touch devices gently stretched the skin of the fingertips to the left (counter clockwise); when a right turn was directed, the TrackPoint tugged the skin of the fingertips to the right (clockwise).

David Strayer, another researcher of the study, said the findings shouldn't be used to encourage cell phone use while driving.

Though the device can help give direction, it 'can't help you with the other things you need to do while driving -- watching out for pedestrians, noticing traffic lights, all the things you need to pay attention to.'

The system also could help hearing-impaired people get navigation information through their fingertips if they cannot hear a system's computerised voice, said co-author Nate Medeiros-Ward.