Janet Leigh in Psycho

There’s a new app about that rewards you for being a reasonable human being who realizes that Facebook poke or Farmville request can wait. Called Driving Barista, the allows users to earn free coffee by simply having the common decency of putting down their damn phones for once in their lives while operating a two-ton death machine.

As reported by Grub Street, the app is a collaboration between Toyota and Japanese wireless company Au. Before beginning their commute, users turn on the app and place their phone face down on a flat surface in their car. Driving Barista will then use the phone’s GPS to calculate the total distance of undistracted travel. Once the user collects 100 km (62 miles) of pure unadulterated road time, they earn a free cup of coffee at Komeda Coffee, a “popular Japanese coffeehouse chain.” Every additional 200 km will earn another free cup.

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And according to Grub Street, the app seems “shenanigans-proof”:

It enlists the phone’s GPS and internal gyroscope, and if a reorientation of the screen is detected while the car is moving, it starts you over and flashes a large “FAILURE” in all caps across the screen next to a pic of spilled coffee.

Currently, Driving Barista is only available in Japan. Or rather, the app is available worldwide, but the benefits are only available in Japan. Though if you have a trip to Tokyo planned, maybe download the app to start building up free coffees. And also to avoid swerving into my lane driving half the speed limit so that I don’t have to rip my steering wheel out of its column and beat you with it.

Free coffee or eating a steering wheel. Your choice.

Zac Cadwalader is the news editor at Sprudge Media Network.

*top image via Google Play

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