A team of psychologists conducted a study on just how cars with hands-free infotainment system live up to their promise of providing a safer way for drivers to keep connected while on the road.
Voice-operated systems that are found in most cars today are often touted by manufacturers as a safer way for drivers to keep connected, assuring them that they can still send out text messages, make calls, or choose music even while their hands remain on the steering wheel.
However, it was revealed that using these systems still provides drivers a certain level of distraction that could last up to 27 seconds long under a traveling speed of 25 mph. The length of the distracted stage can be compared to traveling a total distance that covers three American football fields.
"The results indicate that motorists could miss stop signs, pedestrians and other vehicles while the mind is readjusting to the task of driving," said Peter Kissinger, President and CEO of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.
In the study, researchers compared the new hands-free technologies found in ten vehicles with 2015 as the model year. It was learned that infotainment systems in the Toyota 4Runner, Buick Lacrosse and Chevrolet Equinox were the least distracting. This can be attributed to the systems' least distracting and more intuitive voice command features.
On the other hand, cars such as the Hyundai Sonata, Chrysler 200, Nissan Altima, Volkswagen Passat, Chevrolet Malibu, and Ford Taurus have infotainment systems that are ranked as causing moderate to high distraction rates to drivers.
Topping the list is the Mazda 6 which was named to have the most distracting infotainment system. According to the researchers, Mazda's system is equipped with poor voice detection and longer task completion with the driving needing to fulfill multiple steps just to get a single task done. In choosing a radio station for instance, drivers had to say "frequency" and the station number.
The researchers also compared three mobile devices with voice commands on the level of distraction that they bring to drivers. They learned that Google Now, compared to Microsoft's Cortana and Apple's Siri, is more intuitive and less distracting.
"Just because these systems are in the car doesn't mean it's a good idea to use them while you are driving," said David Strayer, one of the two professors from the University of Utah who conducted the study. "They are very distracting, very error prone and very frustrating to use. Far too many people are dying because of distraction on the roadway, and putting another source of distraction at the fingertips of drivers is not a good idea. It's better not to use them when you are driving."
