Today’s auto industry turned into a mixture between traditional vehicle manufacturer and tech company. Their reports on consumers informed them that the market wants to shift towards futuristic concepts. Therefore, the modern car is a bundle of autonomous technology, in-car access to the world wide web, office tools, and others. However, new research found that these new updates are in fact putting drivers’ lives at risk.
The Modern Car Can Distract Drivers for 40 Seconds at a Time
The American Automobile Association appears as the author of a new study within the automobile industry. The paper had the purpose of analyzing all the gimmicks that turned the traditional car into a most wanted product across modern society.
The latest fleets of vehicles have complicated suites of apps incorporated in their system. Therefore, it has become standard for people to enjoy satellite navigation, music playlists, internet access while driving. However, the AAA’s study concluded that these gadgets are too distractive. Drivers can lose attention on the road for at least 40 seconds at a time.
The new research went through the performance of 30 brands of cars. All of them were newly released in 2017 and grew to become popular quickly. One of the key findings was that almost half of them came with add-ons that overburden drivers’ attention span.
For instance, a new version of a navigation service turned out to be extremely complicated to set up. A driver would have left four football pitches behind at 25mph before he or she managed to select a destination. The executive director of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, Dr. David Yang, claimed that new in-car technology could put the safety of drivers in jeopardy.
“When an in-vehicle technology is not properly designed, simple tasks for drivers can become complicated and require more effort from drivers to complete.”
The Study Has Enough Grounds to Urge Automakers to Invest in More Intuitive In-Vehicle Software
The study aims to encourage automakers to invest in intuitive software. Drivers’ frustration resulted from poor in-car app control can dent their cognitive capacity. This stage translates into a foggy attention that makes drivers get their eyes off the road.
While the modern car is slated to keep developing its technology, automakers and consumers can become more responsible. Until companies devise the perfect autonomous vehicle, driving is still a demanding task that needs people’s attention.
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