Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
One of the many things I love about my Mazda CX-5 is the hand dial that controls their navigation screen rather than being a touch only screen. Makes CarPlay much safer and easier to use.
 
I always found it mind-boggling that touch screens in cars are legal .
Crashes due to people adjusting their analogue radios have been a serious issue back then, and now using a built in tablet while driving is perfectly fine ?

There must have been a ton of money put into lobbying to pull that off .
 
The most important thing to note here: driving while high on THC is less detrimental to driving ability than any phone use. I knew it!

now excuse me as it’s time for my daily wake n bake
 
It is really bad research: they are comparing things that are not comparable. Maybe you get distracted by some app at a certain moment, but e.g. cannabis and alcohol have a more or less continuous effect over a long time.

Their numbers are way too small too to say something significant. Also if you are used to your car and the devices including CarPlay in it you are probably less distracted than some novel user etc. I needed to hand shift in the UK with the shift stick in the left hand, man o man, that is dangerous when you are used to automatic transmission and controls at your right hand...

I don't have CarPlay but my iPhone puts the device to "driving mode" but I check the limits on the roads using a navigation app and play music using the app (mostly using Siri commands). Maybe that app makes my driving more safe since I immediately know the driving limit without needing to pay attention to e.g. spotting signs and can instead focus on cars around me etc.

Of course devices cause distraction, so do other cars, birds, trees, whatever. Driving is unsafe. We'd better only use trains, but hey then some lunatic unscrews the bolts of the tracks (yesterday in Germany).
 
So many factors would go into this. At some point, fully autonomous driving will allow people to do what they want and this will be less of an issue.
 
Surprise... drivers being distracted by doing unnecessary stuff. Doesn't matter which system.

I'm a simple person. When I drive... I drive. I don't do other stuff. Period. Also I don't need 50 assistance system to keep the lane or distance because I pay 100% attention on the road.
On the road you make one mistake and you're dead. I mean, feel free to kill yourself, but, unfortunately, most likely you'll take someone else with you. People need to get their priorities straight.

Need to do something? Take the next exit and take a brake.

It's not that difficult.

Better be 5mins late than years too early.
 
ONLY 20 PARTICIPANTS?! Come on guys, be more responsible with what you choose to report on.
[automerge]1584825634[/automerge]
This has to be the most non-intuitive findings I have ever seen. I simply can not hold any validity to these findings.

Couldn’t agree more. 20 participants. I just lost a bit of respect for macrumors. Unnecessary and irresponsible.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DoctorTech
Too many variables and too small of a sample size to draw any meaningful conclusions. Were the CarPlay participants already familiar with CarPlay or were they trying to figure it out as they went? Also, I would seriously LOVE to see how these slowed reaction times compare to carrying on a conversation with an in-vehicle passenger and dealing with children in the backseat.


They remarked that the folks weren't familiar with CarPlay. This is a joke of a "study" with 20 participants LOL.
 
I always found it mind-boggling that touch screens in cars are legal .
Crashes due to people adjusting their analogue radios have been a serious issue back then, and now using a built in tablet while driving is perfectly fine ?

There must have been a ton of money put into lobbying to pull that off .
Actually, I doubt it took much, if any, lobbying. People WANT to use their devices while driving. I am not saying they should, simply that it is a popular position for anyone in office to take. It would actually require a lot of lobbying from the insurance industry or some safety organization to make it illegal. I ride my bicycle to work (about 4 miles each way) 2-3 times per week so I am well aware of the danger posed by distracted drivers.
 
Compared to other cars, lowest accident rate per mile driven for Tesla?
I are inventing the data. You are probably referring to the bogus data Tesla uses to prove that driving with autopilot is safer than without but this does not apply in this case (not does it in any case).
 
Kinda find it interesting it depends which voice assist you are even using which makes the difference..i.e Android Aut (Voice), Apple CarPlay (Voice)

Is this suppose to be a direct relation to "Siri is stupid ?" The outcome is still the same, Why are people using these systems if it distracts the driver?

It only gives a better view of reason to do statistic reporting. "Well, now its distracting in some way as well as convenient, we can now have another load of statistics to go on"
 
there was a time when it was illegal to talk on the phone while driving, I don't understand how they made an interactive screen ok for drivers in the car.
 
I always found it mind-boggling that touch screens in cars are legal .
Crashes due to people adjusting their analogue radios have been a serious issue back then, and now using a built in tablet while driving is perfectly fine ?

There must have been a ton of money put into lobbying to pull that off .


Yes, it is perfectly fine. Much easier to use touch screen than to tune stations of old. But, most importantly, touch screens are in hundreds of millions of cars worldwide and are used many billions of times every day, without issue. Not that hard. We can't ban things simply because someone might be momentarily distracted and have a remote chance of having an accident, e.g, no adjusting the heat, no opening windows, no eating in your car, no talking to anyone in the car, must stare straight ahead and not look at anything outside of other windows, etc.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 4491275
This is total ********. It absolutely depends what you’re doing on CarPlay. If you’re scrolling through your entire music collection white driving down the interstate I would assume that’s dangerous.... probably right up there with texting. Many people look down to text—which is far worse. At least most CarPlay units are mostly straight ahead & would allow you to see a little more than looking down. All that aside, all of these devices need to be used responsibly. I for one will say that I use CarPlay with voice control almost exclusively & it is FAR safer than any other option—including clicking through older/simpler head-units with information displays. I have NEVER been someone to text while driving except maybe at a long red light. This study has far too many variables to be accurate—I think it’s a **** study and 100% ridiculous. Long live CarPlay.
 
How about BMW iDrive, Mercedes MBUX, Lexus’s trackpad, Audi’s touchscreen? Are they just using Apple CarPlay as a clickbait?
Disclaimer: I work for the company that makes the MBUX voice part (recognition, dialog and text to speech) as well as for many other car OEMs.

I am also wondering about the effect of other systems. While not perfect, I think we have better solutions than Siri's conversational capbilities. But all in all I definitely wonder about the methodology of the paper in question. That being said, the goal of all the AI assistants in the car needs to be to get better and better as to really offer assistance and reduce distraction of the driver.
There are many ways to do that. To increase accuracy of recognition we use multiple microphones in higher tier cars, use echo cancellation and noise reduction; e.g. everything coming from the radio or TTS is being ignored/filtered out in the recognition (how often did you have Sir or Google trigger due to something playing on the radio?).
Also the models and training get better every day. MBUX already received multiple updates. Once cars switch to OTA updates this will probably get even better. Cloud connected services already have the advantage of rolling updates.
 
  • Like
Reactions: haruhiko
This has to be the most non-intuitive findings I have ever seen. I simply can not hold any validity to these findings.
Might look like that at first, but I can see why in some test conditions it would be like that.

Trying to touch a touch screen in a car is distracting.

Well at least Apple fans can be happy that Car play has a higher percentage than Android auto, not once but twice.
I don't find car play intuitive
 
I actually agree with the study. When I had my phone in a cradle on my dashboard, it was much easier for me to look at directions and keep my eyes on the road. The lower position and more centered location makes it much more difficult to check that screen. Especially
 
How about BMW iDrive, Mercedes MBUX, Lexus’s trackpad, Audi’s touchscreen? Are they just using Apple CarPlay as a clickbait?

I have an older (2013) Audi, and I can control the MMI (composed of a central wheel and well placed buttons) completely intuitively. However, when I had to get a new Audi as a service loaner with the double touchscreen controls instead, and holy crap I couldn't do anything. I felt really distracted and out of control, I had to wait until red lights to do anything. I'm sure that would improve drastically with familiarity, but I really didn't like it at all.
 
  • Like
Reactions: haruhiko
I have read the complete study, and my mathematical (PhD) background allows me draw some conclusions.

The study is pretty much useless with only 40 participants, not in any kind of car, but rather a driving simulator (that they sell). I am not sure where they found the info about cannabis and alcohol. It appears that smoking a joint while driving is better than texting, from their suspect data.

This study was done in England with English drivers, who, as we know, drive on the wrong side of the road. All interaction with the screen by touch is done with the left hand. Since only 10% of drivers are left handed, the study should probably be done with cars that have left hand drive.

Drivers get used to the vehicles they own and can complete tasks much faster than using a simulator with which they have had only five minutes to get used to. Those of us in the United States can verify that we have seen drivers steer with their legs as they hold a Subway sandwich in one hand and a Big Gulp in the other. There is not a lot of evidence that driving in this way has an effect on accidents.

Newer cars have additional safety features that were not considered in this study. Adaptive cruise control maintains a set distance to the next car. In the Audis I have driven with CarPlay, there is no touchscreen, but rather control is done through buttons on the steering wheel. My main vehicle is a Tesla Model 3, which is equipped with a touch screen, and
AutoPilot. When AutoPilot is used, the vehicle does not deviate from the lane. Voice commands are used to perform navigation functions, make phone calls, and hear as well as dictate text messages.

I can remember once driving from Pennsylvania to Virginia using several very distracting devices in my car. There was a phone on the dash, an iPad playing a movie, and a MacBook Pro doing the navigation. I had to stop the car and turn everything off. Never again.
 
  • Like
Reactions: dontwalkhand
I have read the complete study, and my mathematical (PhD) background allows me draw some conclusions.

The study is pretty much useless with only 40 participants, not in any kind of car, but rather a driving simulator (that they sell). I am not sure where they found the info about cannabis and alcohol. It appears that smoking a joint while driving is better than texting, from their suspect data.

This study was done in England with English drivers, who, as we know, drive on the wrong side of the road. All interaction with the screen by touch is done with the left hand. Since only 10% of drivers are left handed, the study should probably be done with cars that have left hand drive.

Drivers get used to the vehicles they own and can complete tasks much faster than using a simulator with which they have had only five minutes to get used to. Those of us in the United States can verify that we have seen drivers steer with their legs as they hold a Subway sandwich in one hand and a Big Gulp in the other. There is not a lot of evidence that driving in this way has an effect on accidents.

Newer cars have additional safety features that were not considered in this study. Adaptive cruise control maintains a set distance to the next car. In the Audis I have driven with CarPlay, there is no touchscreen, but rather control is done through buttons on the steering wheel. My main vehicle is a Tesla Model 3, which is equipped with a touch screen, and
AutoPilot. When AutoPilot is used, the vehicle does not deviate from the lane. Voice commands are used to perform navigation functions, make phone calls, and hear as well as dictate text messages.

I can remember once driving from Pennsylvania to Virginia using several very distracting devices in my car. There was a phone on the dash, an iPad playing a movie, and a MacBook Pro doing the navigation. I had to stop the car and turn everything off. Never again.
Why would you navigate with a MacBook Pro?
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.