“Drive First” will be installed on all future Sprint Andriod phones, but subscribers must pay an additional $2 a month to engage the app. Owners of Android phones don’t need to upgrade as they’ll be able to download the app once the service launches, sometime in the third quarter, Sprint says.

The app engages GPS to determine when a cell phone is in a moving vehicle. Incoming calls are sent to voice mail while texts trigger auto-response messages. It also blocks all but three of the smartphone’s apps, in theory allowing just for essentials such as navigation.

The distracted driving technology allows parents or employers to control settings for each Sprint phone via a Web page. Although the technology allows for a user override (for emergencies or when traveling without driving), the Drive First portal logs the action.

Other upper-tier distracted driving solutions have similar functionality — such as Taser’s new Protector system and the TeenSafer subscription service — but Drive First comes with a wireless carrier’s branding, support and billing.

The Drive First app comes from the Location Labs, the same shop behind T-Mobile’s DriveSmart Plus, introduced several months back. T-Mobile had bragging rights to “the “industry’s first carrier-grade service” until now.

DriveSmart Plus is a full-featured subscription service that can be applied to all lines on a customer’s account. It’s priced at $4.99 a month and works with the LG Optimus T Android Phone.

Sprint limits Drive First customers to one smartphone per subscription, making $2 a month a better deal if two or fewer smartphones are controlled.

Meanwhile, T-Mobile said this week that the AT&T purchase of the company is not expected to affect existing services such as DriveSmart Plus for at least a year.

DriveAssist will be offered next year through major wireless carriers. The technology was developed by Canadian tech company Aegis Mobility in conjunction with Nationwide Insurance. Nationwide customers will receive a discount of up to 5% for using the software.

“Research has confirmed that the distraction associated with cell phone use is much more dangerous than originally suspected,” said Aegis Mobility spokesperson David Teater.

Teater should know: His 12-year-old son Joe was killed when a driver ran a red light while distracted by a cell phone. In response, Teater became an advocate for cell phone driving reforms.

Here is the DriveAssist product description:

The technology works like a personal assistant by informing the caller that the person they are trying to reach is driving and can’t answer the phone or text message. The service offers options to the caller, including the opportunity to leave a message, send an audible alert or request a callback. The service always allows 911 calls and offers an override feature for passengers. … An accepted list of approved callers can breakthrough to deliver an audio message to the user such as a parent wishing to contact their child driver.

DriveAssist uses GPS to determine the user’s “driving context” — as in stopped or in motion. The target customers clearly are “empowered parents” who would require their teenagers to use it, the demo video indicates. The company also cites use by employers.

Aegis is pitching the main wireless carriers, which would have to adopt the technology. The charge would be $10 to $20, a company rep told CNN.

The news broke on the first day of the Driving While Distracted symposium in Washington, D.C.