When drive-time meets talk-time. The other mobile network.

I’ve always wondered why someone had not come up with a service that allowed drivers to call up someone in another car in front of them, or in the next lane.

Ome compamy has. A new service called SameLane requires drivers to register with their license plate number and a cell phone. They then put up a sticker in their window announcing they are part of the SameLane network. The SameLane mobile number (not their personal mobile number) is also displayed.

When someone in the next lane wants to call up that driver, they call theSameLane  number, enter the license plate number, and the call is patched through.

It has some potential, because it’s an opt-in network, so receiving a call won’t be considered a nuisance. Privacy is maintained by the network, since SameLane says the phone number of the receiver ewill never be disclosed.

But there are potential problems, the first of which is the liability of promoting drivers, rather than passengers, to make calls while driving. SameLane compares ‘talking to strangers’ akin to chatting to someone in a Starbuck’s line. The comparison is obviously misleading.

But it’s an interesting development. Treating thousands of vehicles going in the same direction as you, as a network.