Traffic violators, beware! Dubai police will test out Google Glass to stop you in your tracks

By Williams Pelegrin May 21, 2014

dubai police use google glass — Gulf News Image used with permission by copyright holder

From hospitals trying to change the way they treat patients to airlines trying to do something different, Google Glass is continually implemented in many useful ways. You can now add the Dubai police force to the growing list, as an official with the emirate’s police force revealed to Gulf News that traffic officers will be testing out the device this week.

Dubai Police general director of smart services Colonel Khalid Nasser Al Razooqi didn’t indicate when the trial would be expanded to include other police officers. However, if the trials go well, the department will implement Glass more broadly as soon as it becomes available. “If it passes our testing criteria as well as we see that it is a useful device, then we might decide to launch it and buy more of it,” said Al Razooqi.

Al Razooqi confirmed that the police department has developed two custom applications, with one allowing police to capture and upload pictures of traffic violators and the other allowing police to identify wanted cars by looking at the license plate numbers. With the latter, Glass will cross-reference the plates with the traffic department’s wanted vehicles database. If there is a match, Glass will then alert the officer.

Unfortunately for Dubai Police, they might have to wait a while for Glass to arrive in the emirate. Even though Google is still running the Glass Explorer Program, with the company even putting the device up for sale to the general public several times, Google isn’t ready to bring Glass to other countries. When it does go on sale, Glass might encounter stiff resistance from consumers, if a survey indicating that 7 out of 10 Americans will avoid Glass is any indication.

Image via Gulf News

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Williams Pelegrin

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Williams is an avid New York Yankees fan, speaks Spanish, resides in Colorado, and has an affinity for Frosted Flakes. Send…

Wearables

The third generation of Google Glass may be nearly ready for release

google glass patent touchpad batteries woman

It looks like Google hasn't given up on Google Glass just yet. According to a new report from DigiTimes suggests that the third generation of Glass has finished the development stage and is now in pilot production.

The report notes that the 3rd-gen Glass is as light as ever, weighing as little as a pair of regular glasses. There's a catch though -- the battery life will reportedly suffer as a result of the light build. In fact, battery life is so low that users may only get 30 minutes of use in between charges.

Mobile

Google Maps will let you enter Incognito Mode, and it won’t store your data

Google Maps

Google has started realizing that people care about their online privacy. At Google I/O 2019 the company announced a number of new features for the privacy-aware. Perhaps the biggest and most important feature is that Incognito Mode will now be available in Google Maps.

But what does that mean? Well, when you use Google Maps, your location information is stored by Google, and linked to your Google account. In Incognito Mode, however, that location information won't be stored -- meaning that if you don't want your information from Maps saved, you no longer have to manually delete it. It's important to note that just because Google doesn't have location information about you, that doesn't mean that your wireless carrier won't have it. Incognito Mode is also already available on YouTube.

Mobile

I can’t wait for Nothing to launch this stunning phone

Nothing Community Edition Project winner.

Say what you will about Nothing, but this brand certainly has a taste for flashy design. After all, how many phones out there light up and sync to the beat of music? But the company's latest smartphone endeavor could just be its best yet.

In March, Nothing introduced its Community Edition Project. The goal was to take ideas from its fans for hardware design, with the Nothing Phone 2a serving as the foundation. The company also has similar plans for wallpaper, packaging, and marketing shenanigans. Today, Nothing announced its winning entry for the phone design, and it’s a stunner.