Auto Safety Experts Concerned About CarPlay and Distracted Driving

[crossifixio]

The way I see it, people are going to drive and talk on the phone, message, and fumble with music no matter what the laws are or if its safe. I'm not saying its right, but people will do it.
I'd much prefer see a drive use Carplay and voice commands than to see someone with their phone to the ear and a hand off the steering wheel.

Regardless, self driving cars are a comin' and hopefully this will be irrelevant in 5-10 years

Well said!

 

[unplugme71]

"Apple is aware of these distracted driving concerns and notes in a press release that Siri minimizes distraction by allowing drivers to keep their eyes on the road."

Minimizes is the same as having distractions. Sorry Apple but you can't say there is no distraction and then say you minimized it.

I don't want to buy a $60k car that has all the technology to avoid collisions. All this tech in the car is making it less fun to drive. I miss the cars of the 80's and 90's that had ABS and power steering only!

 

[Deelron]

Regardless, self driving cars are a comin' and hopefully this will be irrelevant in 5-10 years

Don't hold your breath, it's a long, long time off. It may not even be in our lifetimes where it's "standard".

 

[samh004]

I'm sure it's been said, but people are always going to find a way to see what that latest text was without pulling over, and a way that helps them do that without distracting them in the same way they were going to do it, by taking their eyes off the road, is better.

There are 2 options, I know which I'd rather prefer. And yes, I know you can say the third is to not look at your phone in the first place, but that's not going to happen so 'auto safety experts' may as well focus on ways that these actions can be less distracting.

 

[goobot]

The "safety experts" are probably really saying they simply want a "zero tolerance" policy for cellphones in vehicles. Don't take a call, make a call, view anything the phone tries to display or interact with it in any way, shape or form while driving.

Realistically though? That's just not ever gonna happen. The people with the willpower (or some might say, those anal enough) to do this are already doing it.

Everyone else will, indeed, decide to take an important call while driving, in the interest of using the "on the road" time more efficiently (plus, the call might have something to do with where you're going). You may be able to convince them to stop trying to text while driving (which I think is a good idea, because that's way too interactive a process to juggle safely while behind the wheel). But anything letting you at least listen to your incoming texts without touching the phone or looking at it directly? That's a safety benefit over the alternative it will tempt the vast majority to do.

Yeas i agree, but like you said that people will always do it so why go after something that makes it safer?

 

[fredfnord]

So maybe they want to make talking to your passengers illegal also?

*sigh* And thus spake the uninformed.

So it turns out that they've done studies on this stuff. They're not just making it up. They're not just out to get you because they hate freedom.

It turns out that talking to passengers does not significantly increase reaction times, but talking on the phone or texting, even when intermediated by a voice interface, does significantly increase reaction times. Therefore doing these things behind the wheel is a bad idea. By doing them, you are not just endangering yourself, but making it much more likely that you will kill other people. And so maybe we should be discouraging people from doing it.

Now, of course, you are more than welcome to disbelieve these studies. Indeed, more or less the natural reaction among certain circles to a study that comes to a conclusion that the person doesn't like is to say, 'the study must be wrong.' And those circles are big and influential enough to often prevent laws from being based on science because they don't like it. (C.f. global warming, handgun regulation, poverty, unemployment... and so forth.)

But I wouldn't recommend it. Because even those people still have to live in a world where science actually works. They can choose not to believe it, but it can still kill them.

 

[Michael73]

The solution is to distracted driving is very simple...chauffeurs for everyone!

 

[arkmannj]

Honestly, I want CarPlay to expand control to the stearing and gas. I could get so much more done if the car handled all that nasty driving for me.

 

[Daalseth]

"The idea that people want to be on their phones, and therefore let's give them a way to do that -- that's not putting safety first, that's putting convenience and the desire to be in touch first"

Well, what about the alternative? People looking down and using their phones while they drive. People don't want to be off the grid just because they are in the car. A easy to use and intuitive system is the way to go, not sticking your head in the sand and act as if there is no need for a service like this.

The expression "Shut Up And Drive" comes to mind.

Seriously though I see a big convergence coming in the next few years. In my opinion most people don't WANT to drive, they just want to get somewhere. Combine this technology with self driving cars and you'll have the best solution. You can play with your gadget and let the car concentrate on driving. The result will be less congestion, less stressed people, and safer roads. Not to mention those of us that like driving won't have to deal with people trying to multitask (driving, phone, breakfast, newspaper, etc., etc.,).

 

[BJMRamage]

Come on. Are you really saying that turning a temperature knob takes up anywhere near as much attention as going into a multitouch UI to repond to a call or fiddle with a map?

no. I will say, every addition over simply driving has added complications and distractions. over time we have "evolved" our driving habits...some not nearly enough. Anyway, with a passenger, this is almost a moot point. and perhaps the Apple system would carry over a consistent approach. and with using Siri or the like, could easily be done hands free. or at the very least one based on touches on a steering wheel as many cars now have.

I can imagine a Siri Button that you'd push and ask to change the iTunes Radio Station. or to check messages and respond via Siri.

I should have used [sarcasm] styling. But hey, with Google cars that drive on their own anyway, this is fine.

 

[apolloa]

Why don't we find a way to stop texting while driving first. I see that way on the road than adjusting on-screen technology in the car. Just my thought

It's quite simple, put your phone down and stop texting whilst you are in control of a 1500kg killing machine! But many don't and kill themselves or others as a result.

True. But it's still better than the solutions we have now so it's only improvement, dear safety experts?

No it's not, we already have everything CarPlay has. Voice control included. It doesn't really improve on anything, talking on a phone even using hands free can be distracting, but bar voice control and hands free theirs nothing else you can do really bar never use your phone full stop.

 

[QCassidy352]

Depends on whether, in the absence of CarPlay, drivers will A) refrain from using their phones entirely, or B) use them anyway, in-hand, probably while looking down.

I'm sure some people fall into A and some into B, but sadly, probably more into B. Which makes CarPlay an improvement.

 

[rumplestiltskin]

Only now???

Wow! If it's anyone but Apple, it's okay, right? Take a look at Ford Sync if you want to see an absolutely iconic example of what causes distracted driving. What a miserable excuse for a user interface!

 

[Rogifan]

By the fact that I have a 2007 looking interface on my brand new expensive 2014 car.

Seriously, I know Apple thinks they are the king of all things digital, but have they even bothered to look at the competition when it comes to in car interfaces?

Putting an Apple TV circa 2007 interface in a brand new car is like also equipping it with a Victor Photograph.

Its this lack of effort which is worrying me about the post-Jobs Apple. They just seem to want to rush something to market but don't care about the aesthetics or quality of it, which was Microsoft's modus operandi for decades.

I don't care if Apple wants to be the technology behind the interface, providing their services and "cloud" solutions to the car, but may more car manufactures have spent way more effort and money about the aesthetics of their interior then what went into this Car Play product. Apple most likely offers no ability to skin this interface assuming they are the best when it comes to in car interfaces, but its a shame when all these car companies just swallow up this crap on the appeal of having Apple in their car without a second though to usability and aesthetics.

Hopefully ALL these companies offer model variants with or without this integration. I have seen better **** out of the RadioShack line of car stereos. In this case Apple should be happy to provide the infrastructure, but let more talented designers create the interface.

Have an example of these superior looking interfaces?

 

[MacMan988]

Driving is not safe. Lets walk !

Btw, I remember a buzz about something called Eyes Free from Apple?

 

[Deevo]

Reality

I understand that if you have had family or friends hurt or killed on the road you would like to rid the world of all cellphone use by drivers. If that's the case, please realize that despite your good intentions, it's just not gonna happen!

And to discount a really innovative safety feature like CarPlay simply because it doesn't go far enough to stop distractions is foolish/misguided.

 

[notjustjay]

A system that takes forever to fiddle with and get to work is the biggest distraction. If this works seamlessly, I think it will be better than what people are doing now.

No kidding. I remember I once drove a Volvo S80 as a rental for a business trip. That car has safety devices up the wazoo -- parking radar, "hey you're tailgating" alarms, lane-drift sensors, it even shows you a picture of a coffee cup and says "maybe it's time for a break" if you drift around in your lane too much.

And the reason I know this? I was trying to figure out how to turn on the radio, which caused me to drift around a bit on the highway (luckily it was nearly empty).

Have you seen the controls on the Volvo center console? It is insane. Not to mention a full motion LCD screen interface in the dash with a 4-way controller on the steering wheel.

Talk about confusion. There's a whole telephone keypad on that panel. They did want drivers to be less distracted, right?

Roads will be very dangerous in the near future

Drivers will certainly need to be trained to leave the toys alone, and that's more difficult now with more toys (and this culture of instant-access).

I recently installed a Parrot Asteroid Smart, which is basically an Android tablet running the radio system. It lets you run Android apps like Google Maps, GasBuddy, etc. (Technically you could even run Angry Birds on it.) It was definitely a tempting distraction for the first couple of weeks that I had it. It took a few weeks for the novelty to wear off so I didn't find myself subconsciously glancing at the bright screen all the time.

Research shows what distracts us least and what distracts us most, e.g., most people can talk to passengers safely and listen to the radio safely, but their abilities are impaired when talking on the phone. CarPlay may solve the problem of fumbling with hardware but it's still subject to the problems of distraction that we already have.

That's actually one argument against touch screen interfaces. With a knobs-and-buttons interface, you can remember the positions and eventually reach out to change the volume without even taking your eyes off the road. With a touch interface you need to glance at the screen to confirm where the touch targets are while you're moving your fingers toward them.

I distinctly remember one of my first in-car driving lessons where the instructor had me doing 100 km/h on the freeway and then said "now, change the radio station". He watched me carefully and commended me that I did it in two steps: first, take a quick glance down to the radio to see where the knob was, then return my eyes to the road while moving my hand to the position that I had just memorized.

 

[avanpelt]

I know that Mercedes video posted yesterday consisted of multiple, unedited takes but that video sure didn't help the notion that CarPlay was going to be a simple interaction.

If you were just casually watching that video and not paying attention, you could think that it took the guy nearly ten minutes to get in the car, dictate a text, get directions, and turn on music -- all while the car was parked. Imagine trying to do those things while you're driving!

 

[JAT]

Exactly.

It's 2014, why isn't the ***king car driving itself?!?!? I hate driving with a passion, and I didn't own a car for years because it's nothing more than a miserable experience of traffic and throwing money at it for gas, insurance, etc.

Get the car to drive itself so I can **** with my iGadgets safely on the road.

Wow! Couldn't be more the opposite. Driving is great fun. Not in rush hour, but avoiding that is easy enough.

 

[bbbb4b]

Auto safety experts were worried about windshield wipers too, that they might have hypnotic effect when driving. It's an untested technology like wipers were at the time.

Windshield wipers do. This is a tested fact. But that risk is far outweighed by the risk of driving without being able to see outside the windshield. (duh)

 

[Taz Mangus]

"Apple is aware of these distracted driving concerns and notes in a press release that Siri minimizes distraction by allowing drivers to keep their eyes on the road."

Minimizes is the same as having distractions. Sorry Apple but you can't say there is no distraction and then say you minimized it.

I don't want to buy a $60k car that has all the technology to avoid collisions. All this tech in the car is making it less fun to drive. I miss the cars of the 80's and 90's that had ABS and power steering only!

No one is stopping you from going out and buying one of those 80's and 90's cars that had ABS and power steering only. Because they still exist.

 

[mazz0]

It may not be safe (compared to not doing anything other than focusing on the road), but if it's safer than what people are doing already (using the screen) then it's an improvement. The worry of course will be that people who previously wouldn't have texted while driving (cos they realise how stupid it is) now will, so the overall distraction level will increase.

 

[T-Will]

Dear Bruce Hamilton,

Shutup.

Sincerely,
T.Will

 

[bbbb4b]

So they're perfectly safe now?

Yeah, 'caus that's exactly what they just said. (eye roll)

 

[apolloa]

I really don't get those on here proclaiming CarPlay brings innovative safety to cars? It doesn't, NOTHING in it doesn't already exist, we already have voice control, my car will read my text messages to me, dial anyone in my address book when I tell it to. In my last car I could speak to it to control the heating system etc even.

Voice control has been around for a while. This is just Apples implementation of it but in the end it's no different to what anyone else has come up with.

And those claiming this is an attack on Apple just because they are Apple, erm, no. These safety groups have attacked everyone, yearly, and considering yearly thousands die on the roads around the world, who can blame them? It's not anything personal to Apple, it's a cold hard fact people use mobiles and crash and die and/ or kill others.