I've had Siri since its introduction in Canada, and I still find it inaccurate, clumsy, unintuitive and just plain useless. Siri is the definition of a gimmick.
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Hands-Free Siri Interactions Result in Highest Levels of Mental Distraction While Driving
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I've had Siri since its introduction in Canada, and I still find it inaccurate, clumsy, unintuitive and just plain useless. Siri is the definition of a gimmick.
No kidding! That was my first thought when I saw that image. I think I would probably crash just from all that extra crap in my way!
Not to mention it's one thing to get used to Siri a little at a time, and then do things that occur to you naturally, like text my wife, ask for directions, etc.
I have a feeling they strapped all this extra crap on people, then they are under all this pressure to either remember the commands or they are being fed them by an observer. All of this makes people nervous and distracted already. I don't see how this is even close to a fair test.
Doesnt even make sense, they are using iOS 7, not even iOS 8, where Siri does real time text translation now and Siri works noticeably better in iOS 8.
Im sure using these voice systems defitnetly will have a slight mental distraction to them, but iOS 8 Siri is noticeably better then iOS 7, (the problems they are talking about is somewhat improved pretty nicely in iOS 8)
Lol, just looked at the blog in your signature. That's a lot of crying over the iOS 7. Hopefully, you (or the author) have since come to terms.
Lets be serious. I doubt listening to the radio causes any driver distraction nor does having someone in the car. In fact, these two occurrences likely keep a driver more alert. Sarcastic comments aside, Siri is fairly distracting to use. People should be fumbling around with any cellphone while driving.
CarPlay may be better, but Siri took away a distraction (texting, etc.) and replaced it with another (having to activate Siri, make sure you're speaking clear and concise, and then checking your text visually).
What about including having a conversation with another human in the car? I can't see Siri interaction being much more demanding...
I've wondered about that myself, and my understanding is that the studies indicate that another human takes cues from the situation on the road - e.g., stops talking to you when you are trying to pull off a difficult maneuver or senses a dangerous situation - and can help the driver out by acting as another set of eyes. Obviously, that's not all the time, and many, I suspect, would argue that's not even some of the time for them, but that's my understanding as to why a conversation with a human or listening to something passively (car stereo) is generally less distracting than something requiring the driver's interaction.
All that said, if I HAD to interact with a device (e.g., navigation system), I would much rather do it verbally and keep my eyes on the road, than have to type something onto a screen.
"*bodoop*"
"Play No One Else by Amel Larrieux*
"*beedeep!*"
*song plays*
That's a lot less distracting than scrolling through a few thousand songs. I use that all the time, definitely don't consider it a gimmick to select random songs while keeping an eye on the road. Only problem is when I have different covers of the same song (saying the artist doesn't always seem to work for some reason, or maybe iOS 8 fixed that)
"Play No One Else by Amel Larrieux*
"*beedeep!*"
*song plays*
That's a lot less distracting than scrolling through a few thousand songs. I use that all the time, definitely don't consider it a gimmick to select random songs while keeping an eye on the road. Only problem is when I have different covers of the same song
(saying the artist doesn't always seem to work for some reason, or maybe iOS 8 fixed that)Yet, my voice is programmed and "learned" in my Audi and BMW, I'm not worried about those companies using my voice. For what? Are they planning to nefariously use those voice recordings? How?
Honestly, I've used Siri via Bluetooth (I don't see a need for Carplay). Hit a button on my steering wheel or simply say "Hey Siri" if it's plugged in, no problems. It's better as an addition to rather than a replacement of your vehicles handsfree navigation system.
Also, a small N indicates a badly done test. What were the test subjects demographics? Were some tech savvy? Familiar with Siri? What were their backgrounds? The higher and more diverse the N the more reliable conclusions, and this is not a well done study.
Haha
Siri works fine for me when I'm not in the car, but I would have little-to-no use for Siri outside of the car. I think the mic included with my Pioneer NEX unit just sucks.
thank you.
whos better at texting in general, yourself, or your grandmother?
i could skew this any way i wanted also........
.........especially if i was the AAA - safety board -
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That is a iOS 8 feature. "Hey Siri..." if the device is plugged in to a charger and that feature is enabled in the preferences.
What about including having a conversation with another human in the car? I can't see Siri interaction being much more demanding...
It's much more demanding, and I'll tell you why.
Interacting with someone in a car, you can simply say what you'd like to say with the expectation that you will be understood. When communicating with any current gen voice recognition software, you're not speaking in natural language. You have to spend a good deal of mental energy 'translating' what you're thinking into a command the device recognizes AND keep in mind what the device can and can't do. Then you must mentally 'navigate' and respond to audio commands, again carefully making sure you speak a recognized command. All of this takes a good deal more cognitive power than just chatting with a passenger, who can parse pretty much any words coming out of your mouth.
On top of that, Siri simply doesn't have some very basic features that would make navigating hands free helpful. For instance, if you don't remember what albums you have by a certain artist, you can't ask Siri to list them so you can pick one. So again, it requires a lot of mental power (comparatively) to try to remember the name of a specific album exclusively from memory rather than see it in a list and pick it.
I use that gimmicky garbage every day and find it extremely useful.
I think a lot of the inconsistent reports about Siri has to do with accents and what people are trying to do with it. I generally limit it to calling people, setting reminders and alarms, adding events to my calendar, navigation, asking about sports and weather, and controlling music. And for those things, it's a real time saver.
It depends on what you mean with "listening". If you are actively thinking about it then it's dangerous. If it's a background noise so that you don't even acknowledge listening, then the distraction is as minimal as an engine humming.
Of course. They were just holding Siri wrong.
I am a heavy Siri user. Still, I find Siri to be annoyingly stupid and surprisingly context-unaware. And interestingly enough, just today, I tried to use Siri for the first time in a car and failed completely at getting it to do what I wanted.
Yes, "it", not "her". I have no idea why people keep calling Siri a "her". My Siri has a male voice, unless it is supposed to be a woman with a very mannish voice and I refuse to personify a piece of software that consistently fails the Turing test already at the second sentence of a conversation.
Funny, I use it all the time. Setting reminders, setting timers and alarms, getting directions, dictating text messages when I only have one hand free, locating people, launching apps, simple Web searches. The trick is to realize what it's good at and what it's not. I think a lot of people play with it when they get their phone and forget all about it, but it can really save a ton of time. I frequently see people impressed when I do something quickly with Siri, even though in most cases they also have it on their phones, but just don't use it.
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.
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.
Yeah I never trust stuff like this. Just like when Car Play was shown off earlier this year and some consumer group was all up in arms as if infotainment systems in cars didn't exist prior to Car Play.
Good lord the Apple Apologists are out in force.
It's truly astounding and amazing that Apple can do absolutely no wrong for these Apologists.
Come on Apologists.... what will it take for you guys to get your heads out of the sand?
Amazing. Absolutely amazing the justification, back peddling and pointing fingers the extreme fanboy/girl Apologists do. Astounding.
It's truly astounding and amazing that Apple can do absolutely no wrong for these Apologists.
Come on Apologists.... what will it take for you guys to get your heads out of the sand?
Amazing. Absolutely amazing the justification, back peddling and pointing fingers the extreme fanboy/girl Apologists do. Astounding.