Study: Connected Cars Distract Drivers

New cars offer drivers an array of built-in electronic wizardry: touch screens, internet, Facebook, texting options, videos, in-dash cellphones, gesture controls and program-while-you-drive navigation tools.

But a new University of Utah study finds they often “are just too distracting to actually be used safely,” says U. psychology professor David L. Strayer, who led the team of researchers.

The Salt Lake City Tribune reports the team used volunteers driving around the straight roads of the Avenues area of Salt Lake City — at its posted 25 mph speed limit — to test how well they could use those various electronics in 30 models of 2017 cars. Researchers havereleased findings for the study funded by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.

“The new technology is much, much more concerning than what we were seeing with people just using their cellphones,” says Strayer, whose past work attracted international headlines for showing that cellphone use and texting while driving can be much more dangerous than drunken driving.

“Drivers’ eyes are off the road for long periods of time. They are engaged in really complex interactions,” he said about use of new ‘infotainment’ systems.

His team found that drivers using voice-based and touch-screen technology sometimes took their hands, eyes and mind off the road for more than 24 seconds to complete tasks.

And the risk of a crash doubles when a driver takes eyes off the road for just two seconds, according to previous research from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

"Some of the cars we tested would allow people to do Facebook posts or read Facebook or surf the internet,” Strayer said. “They have touch screens. Some of the cars have 50 multifunction buttons with rotary dial and write-pads.”

He hopes aloud that the new research “will be a catalyst for car companies to make sure they identify what should be available in the car, rather than what could be available. Right now, it’s almost anything goes…. As soon as someone figures how to do it, they put it in the car.”

The study found that programming navigation tools while driving was the most distracting task — taking drivers an average of 40 seconds to complete. Text messaging was the second-most-distracting. The tasks easiest to perform were audio entertainment, calling and dialing.