IBM has apparently patented a couple ideas for earning fees by monitoring driver activity. One plan would encourage drivers to take different routes that bring them past certain retail establishments — if, that is, the retail establishments want to pay for it. And another plan discusses charging bad drivers a toll for behavior like tailgating. IBM’s Smarter Traffic division has a few research programs devoted to planning driving routes depending on congestion and other factors. One such app, which we discussed this summer, uses GPS to monitor a driver’s habits and road sensors to check traffic, and recommends the best route. But this patent application suggests that someday, it may not actually be the best route for you, unless you’re actually craving Starbucks when your car just happens to reroute you past one. The patent “Conventional route planning systems determine optimal routes based on different preferred conditions, including minimizing travel time or minimizing the distance traveled,†the patent application explains. “By focusing on optimal route determination, the known route planning systems fail to consider non-optimal routes whose presentation to travelers may have value to other parties.†The system would work by collecting fees from retailers, which would then be used to assign a preferential weight for certain way points along a given route. IBM software would figure out a new route that incorporates that way point, and present it to the driver as the “recommended route.†This sub-optimal route couldn’t be too inconvenient — the patent application discusses limiting how far out of the way a recommended route could go — but it might not be the most direct route, nor the fastest. If the driver does actually take the fee-inspired route, then IBM could levy an additional fee for this successful misdirection.
So Starbucks pays a fee and gets included in the IBM route plan. People start showing up for java. Then along comes Caribou Coffee and builds a shop right next door and doesn't pay a fee.... And then Tim Horton's plops down a donut shop, no fee..... And then MINI puts in a dealership so you can have your coffee and donuts while you wait on service. Again no fee paid. Cripes, this is the way towns get built in the future. Then IBM figures there are too many free loaders and jacks up the payment. Starbucks stops paying the fee. IBM changes the routing..... The town dies.... This is not a good thing IMHO......