A New Frontier in Driver Health
The year 2032. A truck stop outside of Tucumcari, New Mexico. 2:00 a.m.
It’s been one of those days that just go on forever. Still, Jake is unusually tired – has been since Amarillo, in fact. But now he’s in Tucumcari and it’s time for some much-needed rest. As he shuts his tractor down and signs out on the electronic log, the truck’s driver information center pings and a soothing, familiar female voice says, “Jake, your body temperature is elevated to 101 degrees and your blood pressure has dropped a bit in the past hour. Your breathing is elevated as well. I suggest you see a doctor.”
Jake nods grimly to himself and climbs out of the driver’s seat. The seat is a wonder in and of itself, a smart-ergonomic design that automatically changes its contours throughout the day to keep him feeling fresh and reduces joint and lower-back pain while constantly isolating and limiting vibration and road shocks. It’s also a biometric design, lined with advanced “smart” fibers that track Jake’s vital signs throughout the day – much like the Apollo astronauts on the moon missions almost a century earlier (although Jake doesn’t have to attach sensors to his body or deal with wires running under his clothes to transmit data the way those brave men did).
Wearily, Jake clambers into the back of the cab and flops down on his bunk. Reaching up, he taps the sleeper wall beside his head and instantly, a video screen flares into view. “Doctor, please,” Jake tells the onboard computer. Within seconds his personal, online physician comes into view. The doctor isn’t real, of course. Not at this hour. She’s a virtual physician on an interactive website designed to help patients deal with health emergencies.
Jake describes his symptoms to the virtual doctor and taps the …Read the rest of this story
