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New vehicle infotainment systems can take drivers' eyes and attention off the road and hands off the wheel for dangerous periods of time, according to new research from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. Drivers using in-vehicle technologies like voice-based and touch screen features were visually and mentally distracted for more than 40 seconds when completing tasks like programming navigation or sending a text message. Removing eyes from the road for just two seconds doubles the risk for a crash, according to previous research. With one in three U.S. adults using infotainment systems while driving, AAA cautions that using these technologies while behind the wheel can have dangerous consequences.
AAA has conducted this new research to help automakers and system designers improve the functionality of new infotainment systems and the demand they place on drivers.
"Some in-vehicle technology can create unsafe situations for drivers on the road by increasing the time they spend with their eyes and attention off the road and hands off the wheel," said Dr. David Yang, executive director of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. "When an in-vehicle technology is not properly designed, simple tasks for drivers can become complicated and require more effort from drivers to complete."
Does keeping your eyes on the road really matter when traffic is stand-still anyway?
(Score: 2) by quacking duck on Thursday October 05 2017, @06:04PM (1 child)
Examples of carmakers reversing boneheaded decisions to move everything to touchscreen controls are rare, but they do happen. The 2017 Honda Fit didn't have a volume knob, but they must've received a lot of complaints because the knob is back as of the 2018 model.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 05 2017, @06:22PM
Just rented a 2017 Camry (base model) and it had knobs for power/volume and tune/select on the radio/CD/USB. Also had some controls on the steering wheel.
What it didn't have (and this seems to be common these days) is any way to fast forward or "rewind" in the middle of a track. Very annoying if listening to an audio book, where the chapters may be quite long. All it knows how to do is jump to the beginning of the next or previous chapter/track.
Another problem, I had a dozen chapter files on a USB stick which were named with the first letters sequentially a, b, c, ... yet they didn't play in alphabetic order. For this, I had to display the file listing, scroll and select the next chapter manually. Didn't see any menu option to alphabetize, only to randomize (which might be OK for songs).