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so all cars with voice recognition are highly mentally distracting? or having a discussion with others?

Typical voice-recognition in a car are able to understand only a very limited set of specific commands so it's much easier to make the system reliable. Of course it's also much less capable compared to what Siri is supposed to do.
 
I use siri hand free in my 2012 yaris, and its much better now in iOS8, being able to say "Hey Siri text my wife, blah blah blah" works really well now. I had problems at first as i thought you had to say hey siri then wait for him to start listening, but you just say hey siri and then what you want straight away.
 
Ah Siri... Takes about 5 minutes to get it to understand which song or album I want... Truly defeats the purpose.

Of course, it could be related to my car's mic... I'd rather get an error message than info on the Miami Heat when I asked for Hey Jude... (True story!)
 
I use siri hand free in my 2012 yaris, and its much better now in iOS8, being able to say "Hey Siri text my wife, blah blah blah" works really well now. I had problems at first as i thought you had to say hey siri then wait for him to start listening, but you just say hey siri and then what you want straight away.
Out of curisoity, why would you say "Hey Siri"? Does Siri respond to its name or something?
 
What about including having a conversation with another human in the car? I can't see Siri interaction being much more demanding... :confused:

It is for a couple of reasons. First of all, to the brain it is not a natural conversation. "Hey Siri. Call wife", "I don't see anyone named Ralph in your contacts."
Being unnatural, the brain will try to understand if the output is as expected or not. I bet many people - including myself - after telling something to Siri look down/to the side even for a split second to check if the written output corresponds to the request.
Third, if you are talking to someone next to you, you have an extra - altough distracted - pair of eyes that can help you in extreme circumstances. With Siri, or someone on the phone, this does not happens.
The human brain can't multitask.
 
So that strange helmet, camera in front of her and big monitor hanging down were not considered a distraction in the test? Ummm...

People do all sorts of things when driving.. change the radio station, reach for something on the passenger seat, kids, people, windows, moon roof..etc....

It's not the phone or device or what-not that is the problem, it's the person that uses them in an unsafe manner.
 
so all cars with voice recognition are highly mentally distracting? or having a discussion with others?

Drive by yourself without a radio or phone... problem solved

no just siri. other voice recognition systems actually work

siri sucks. plain & simple
 
Ive been using Hey Siri since iOS 8. its the best thing ever to my phone usage while driving. Hooked it up to my car speakers and its great for changing soundtracks, messaging, and calling. Though messaging isnt always right but I tend to opt for messaging something important and short(and quick). For what it was intended its good.
 
I must say, while I rarely use Siri, I've noticed it's been much better in iOS 8. Combine that with the new "Hey Siri" feature, I've testing it out more and it's been much more accurate than before.

I'll hop in my car and say "Hey Siri" play music of a specific band and it gets it right most of the time in my experience. Very limited test, but been happy with it.
 
Right, and where does having an argument with your spouse land on this chart?

Or mediating a fight between your kids in the backseat?

I want to see some real perspective.

Next they'll be telling us we can't have anyone else in the car.
If you are arguing with your spouse or controlling you kids as frequently as those who use Siri, then you may want to seek counseling before a car gets damaged from those distractions.
 
Siri's high complexity and low intuitiveness

What? There's nothing more simple and intuitive than simply talking. I'm wondering if the real problem was the car system that the iPhone was running through. There are many Bluetooth radios that have terrible microphone pick-up. In my own car, for example, Siri is hopeless. If I take the phone off of Bluetooth though, Siri works fine.

If these test drivers had CarPlay, as the article mentions, the results might be quite a bit different. But again, it would depend on the stereo.
 
If science has proofed that using Siri result in mental distraction while driving it should be banned by law using Siri while driving. I think it's a crime using Siri while knowing this causing distraction.
 
No significant results can be found from a sample of n=45.

What degree of bias was there for familiarity of systems?

Also, has anyone else noticed a marked improvement for siri recognition in ios8?
 
So what, is driving while talking to your passengers unsafe too now? :(

Partially it is. The human brain can do only one thing at a time. You either drive or you talk. By talking to someone while driving your brain switches between the two tasks. That's the reason why you turn off the radio or ask someone to be quiet and not talk while you're driving in a difficult situation (heavy weather, you got lost etc.)
 
This is my favorite part:

“Evaluated sending/receiving texts, updating Facebook/Twitter and checking calendar by using voice commands while driving.”

Seriously? THAT'S what you tested? The only thing on that list I would actually do in the car is send a text, which is extremely easy. "Tell Bob I'm on way."

Why not test map navigation, which is equally simple? "Take me to Panera Bread" or "Take me home"

Why not test music? "Play my Driving playlist"

You see, AAA wants Siri to fail, because it makes a great headline. If Siri turned out to be good, or even middle of the pack, Mac Rumors and everyone else wouldn't share this headline. It turns out if you attack the most successful company in the world, you get a lot of press. :rolleyes:

And yeah, as someone else said, their recommendation is probably that you join AAA and use their paper Trip Tik maps, because those aren't at ALL distracting. :eek:
 
I'm raising the ******** flag over this. Unless you test the entire data sample of subjects, i.e. the whole human race, the results are flawed. Some people can't operate a roller coaster because they can't even drive for ****, while others can talk on the phone and use a manual transmission at the same time. Everyone's skill level is different.
 
This all stems from the belief that we need to be talking on the phone, texting, emailing or doing anything phone related while we drive. Outside of calling or receiving calls, none of the other should even be integrated into a car. Your emails and texts can wait until you stop. And honestly, 99% of calls could probably wait too.
 
I would like a solution that filters important messages from spam. "Check out my latest cat photo" is not important while driving. But "I've just landed at terminal B, I'll be late" is important enough that Siri might read that out loud.
 
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