NHTSA chief vows to fight cars becoming smartphones on wheels

The chief of the federal car safety agency served notice that he'll fight unsafe infotainment technology that tries to convert vehicles into smartphones on wheels.

"I'm just putting everyone on notice. A car is not a mobile device," said David Strickland, administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. "I'm not in the business of helping people tweet better. I'm not in the business of helping people post on Facebook better." Strickland, speaking at the Telematics Detroit 2011 conference in Novi (MI), acknowledged that there are useful in-car applications that help drivers, dealerships and automakers diagnose mechanical problems and find solutions faster. And he praised navigation systems and automatic notification of emergency responders after accidents as valuable technologies. But there is a difference, he said, between technology that supports a driver or enhances vehicle safety and services that simply distract people from driving safely. "It's OK not to be connected when you're operating a car. I'm not going to dispute that people want these services. They do."