Hands-Free Siri Interactions Result in Highest Levels of Mental Distraction While Driving

[wigby]

How is it any different than having a conversation with someone that's in the car?

It's much different at first. You're not having a conversation with Siri. You're commanding her to do something and then waiting for a response or verification that she did it. Real conversations are much more complex but we have been having them since we were born so our brains can do almost anything while we have a normal conversation

So we either have to wait until our brains get used to Siri's cadence and limitations or wait until Siri advances to catch up with normal conversations we've had our entire lives. I'd wager Siri catches up to us before we get used to her.

 

[jonnysods]

Siri makes me crazy to use, I'm Australian, and she treats me like crap.

Wish it would use Google's VR software, it reads minds almost.

 

[DaveMcM76]

Since iOS 8 introduced Hey Siri I use it all the time for quick "Hey Siri find me a xxxxxx near here" directions and for sending the occasional text if I'm running late. Before that it was a pain having to reach for the phone and hold the home button down as my in car system could initiate phone calls but not siri.

I think a lot of problems people have are down to the quality of the microphone - Siri was practically unusable on the Sony bluetooth head unit in my old car because the microphone was in a terrible position and I used to get all kinds of garbled nonsense but since I upgraded to a car with built in bluetooth and a microphone in the headlining just above my head it works great.

 

[Rogifan]

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.

Really? Siri works quite well for me. And much better in noisy situations.

 

[AlecZ]

How is Siri more distracting than composing messages? I use it occasionally to set my navigation destination or call someone, and it doesn't distract me at all. It also gets everything right. It's not as bad as talking to a passenger. Maybe it's bad if you're using it to check Facebook, which I wouldn't do.

 

[CNeufeld]

I've got a 2014 Toyota Highlander, and Siri's voice recognition is light-years beyond Toyota's POS. I'd love to see the test results that include it. I've done the training, tried many times to speak clearly, no luck. It's a wonder my head-unit screen is still intact...

Clint

 

[octothorpe8]

Why did i never see a study like this on SYNC by Microsoft or Android Auto?

Doesn't matter. It's all the same thing. They probably picked Apple because it's the highest-profile company. But shifting your attention off the road to interface with a machine is a distracting activity, period.

Self-driving cars can't come quickly enough.

 

[BJB Productions]

For me, Siri is horribly frustrating to use when in the car. As stated previously, however, it's because my Pioneer mic that came with my stereo is horrible. It sounds utterly terrible and Siri can't understand what I'm saying half of the time. So it's not really Apple's fault. Though there are times where Siri does act up.

 

[octothorpe8]

How is Siri more distracting than composing messages? I use it occasionally to set my navigation destination or call someone, and it doesn't distract me at all. It's not as bad as talking to a passenger.

"it doesn't distract me at all" — every single person on the road ****** around with their phone

 

[dtich]

i turned off siri as soon as i took my phone out of its packaging.

its gimmicky garbage and we dont have the technology (yet) for it to actually be accurate and useful. Also dont want Apple recording and storing my voice

this is bs. it's not gimmicky garbage, it's just not brilliant yet. it's a promising tech that is still... wait for it .... DEVELOPING. calm down.

i actually found siri to have improved greatly in the last few months. i feel a lot of behind the scenes work going on. it can do much more than before, and i, for one, have had VERY few issues with voice recognition. it actually works pretty well and consistently, even with complex and odd sentences.

is it ready to drive your car or do everything in your car, maybe not, but use your head. if siri is distracting to you, don't use it while driving, if it's not, then by all means... i for one can send simple texts and look up things while driving without taking my eyes off the road or hands off the wheel. i personally don't do a lot of smart phone things while driving. i check texts at a stop light while not moving, etc. but the rare occasion i need to text someone i'm ten mins late, siri works like a charm. i am all for concern, review and caution using this tech in cars, but let's proceed with perspicacity, and not throw babies out with bath water all the time... it's not gimmicky garbage. it's developing tech.

 

[AlecZ]

I've got a 2014 Toyota Highlander, and Siri's voice recognition is light-years beyond Toyota's POS. I'd love to see the test results that include it. I've done the training, tried many times to speak clearly, no luck. It's a wonder my head-unit screen is still intact...

Clint

Same story with the Honda Accord. The Accord's voice recognition can call people, but it almost never works.

 

[YegorH]

Based on my studies, the most distracting task while driving was making three-egg omelet with a torch on passenger seat using my right hand and shaving my wife's left leg using my left hand.

Why don't people just ****ing drive when they drive a car? Updating a ****ing Facebook page?

 

[AlecZ]

"it doesn't distract me at all" — every single person on the road ****** around with their phone

It's more like they know it's distracting and don't care. I used to drive across LA all the time and have seen lots of **** on Sunset Blvd and the 405. And you have to honk to make people move at a green light.

 

[Analog Kid]

No surprise-- Siri is a weak implementation of a cool concept. I never use Siri, mainly because I'm tired of it calling random people from my contacts...

 

[aaronvan]

Talking while driving--with or without hands-free devices--is in itself a distraction.

 

[diegogaja]

I have an iPad mounted on the dash of my Honda element. I mostly use it for GPS, but I also use Siri to control my music, make myself reminders, make appointments, and send text messages. It's all very simple and Siri always understands me. I have a 99.9% success rate using Siri.

I think the problem that a lot of people have with Siri is that you actually can't just start talking naturally want to percent, you have to think about what you're going to say and then say it in context so that she will be sure to understand you. It takes a bit of getting used to it first but after you've done a couple times it gets very easy. I can control so many things using Siri.

The new hey Siri option on iOS eight is awesome, because I can just leave my phone plugged in the room and anywhere I'm walking around the house I can just say hey Siri and the phone will do what I need to do without me even touching it.

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.

 

[bpeeps]

It's more like they know it's distracting and don't care. I used to drive across LA all the time and have seen lots of **** on Sunset Blvd and the 405. And you have to honk to make people move at a green light.

An intersection I avoided at all costs. Especially when the 405 was under construction.

 

[hamiltonrwatch]

i turned off siri as soon as i took my phone out of its packaging.

its gimmicky garbage and we dont have the technology (yet) for it to actually be accurate and useful. Also dont want Apple recording and storing my voice

You had me until your last thought

 

[Makosuke]

How is it any different than having a conversation with someone that's in the car?

There are, I would assume, at least two significant ones.

One is that you're putting some mental effort ("cognitive load" in the jargon of these studies) into figuring out what to say to Siri and how to interpret its responses and reply accordingly. That is, you're making a mental "map" of the interaction, a little like a phone tree, which takes some attention away from the road. A human in the car is much more likely to correctly interpret what you're asking for and adjust or repeat instructions as needed.

The other is the same problem you have with a cell conversation, even handsfree--the other human in the car is also aware of the situation around you, and will adjust (or even assist) accordingly. For example, if there's a hazard coming up, they might break off the conversation temporarily, or actually point it out to you if you didn't see it.

Even dealing with a car navigation system has some of this; with each instruction (unless it's really obvious, like an offramp on a small freeway or a turn on a country road), you're trying to figure out exactly how to interpret the "turn left ahead" instruction as it applies to the intersection(s) in front of you and surrounding traffic. With a human navigator, they point and say, "turn right at that sign up there" or "Follow that yellow truck." I know that Garmin will even sell you a navigation add-on that claims to give real-world landmark directions when telling you where to turn to simulate this.

This study honestly doesn't surprise me at all--I wouldn't really want to do more than the most rudimentary task with Siri on the road, and definitely not in heavy traffic.

That said, on a recent road trip, it was tremendously useful to be able to just say "Give me directions to the nearest Dairy Queen" while on the freeway somewhere in Nebraska and have Siri tell me what exit to take. I would not otherwise have been able to get that information without getting off of the freeway and doing a manual search.

 

[Eweie]

isn't the purpose of hands free interactions implicit? to keep your hands on the wheel? they're not about lessening distraction, it's no more distraction than talking to someone on the car or dealing with your kids on the back seat for sure. pointless research is pointless.

 

[tennisproha]

the problem is familiarity. once those drivers get used to how Siri works and it's nuances, it'll drop. that seems pretty obvious since navigating complex menus beat Siri.

the other thing is Siri is pretty stupid.

 

[trainwrecka]

But is it an improvement over someone manually doing the task on their phone? Isn't that what it should be compared too?

 

[BrianMojo]

There are, I would assume, at least two significant ones.

One is that you're putting some mental effort ("cognitive load" in the jargon of these studies) into figuring out what to say to Siri and how to interpret its responses and reply accordingly. That is, you're making a mental "map" of the interaction, a little like a phone tree, which takes some attention away from the road. A human in the car is much more likely to correctly interpret what you're asking for and adjust or repeat instructions as needed.

...

Thank god someone else gets it. I thought I was going crazy reading all of these replies.

But is it an improvement over someone manually doing the task on their phone? Isn't that what it should be compared too?

That's a good question!

 

[Kabeyun]

This isn't too surprising; using Siri is often a frustrating exercise. And yes, this is coming from an Apple afficionado.

Notice that using Siri is compared only to other in-car tasks. I'd be interested in seeing a comparison to other voice-recognition products, like OK Google, Microsoft Voice Command, or Moto Voice.

- K

 

[Vertigo50]

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.

Look at the woman in the photo. Does this look like someone who is in a normal, undistracted driving situation? Does that seem like a fair test to you?

At the same time, many of us, myself included, have found using Siri to be the least distracted I've ever been when using tech in a car. With only my voice and an occasional quick glance at the screen, I can get directions, send a quick text, and control my music. If that is the case, then what is the disparity?

My guess is what many others have concluded, that the test was already distracting (giant screen blocking the windshield, camera pointed at subject's face, weird helmet on their head) AND that the subjects probably weren't familiar with Siri. They were also testing dumb stuff like updating Facebook/Twitter instead of controlling music and getting directions.

Call me an apologist all you want. This was a test geared toward getting the incendiary headline they wanted. And it's working, because neither of us would have even heard about this story if Siri hadn't "failed the test".