Cortana most distracting assistant to drivers, study says

They also examined a selection of voice-dialing, voice-contact calling and music selection systems in ten cars released in 2015, tested by 257 people.

University of Utah professor David Strayer, one of the report’s authors, said the higher-rated systems could be somewhat counterintuitive for drivers to use, even after being given a week to familiarize themselves with the system.

Now, it’s no surprise that interacting with a screen, even using your voice, is distracting. “It’s better not to use them when you are driving“.

AAA’s Marshall Doney says that “Developers should reduce mental distractions by designing systems that are no more demanding than listening to the radio or an audiobook”.

That’s long enough to drive the length of almost three football fields, moving at just 25 miles per hour. “But that’s just not the case”. Drivers took up to 27 seconds to start paying full attention to the road again. Even sending a short text message can cause nearly another 30 seconds of impaired attention’. For example, a safer way to use hands-free technology would be for the tech to allow drivers to execute simple tasks like changing the internal temperature of a vehicle or accessing Global Positioning System through verbal commands but not talk to social media.

Mazda, one of the manufacturers whose cars were reviewed in the study said: “We’re always looking for new ways to make that interface between user and machine smoother and more intuitive”.

Smart phones aren’t the only culprits.

“The research confirms that hands-free is not risk free”, says AAA’s Peter Kissinger. AAA formerly was known as the American Automobile Association.

Strayer said Wednesday his team has received $2.5 million for related research since 2013.

All the hands free devices scored between 2.4 and 4.6. It’s the third phase of the Foundation’s investigation into mental distraction behind the wheel. Systems in the Ford Taurus, Chevrolet Malibu, Volkswagen Passat, Nissan Altima, Chrysler 200 and Hyundai Sonata performed less well. Further six systems were seen as highly distracting and the remaining three as moderately distracting.

Researchers also tested smartphone technology and found that Google Now outperformed Apple Siri and Microsoft Cortana. “Their mind is taxed with trying to operate a auto and reaction times are slow”.

“Technology developed to assist people to make them safer may unintentionally make the task of driving more hard”, Jacob Nelson, AAA’s director of traffic safety advocacy and research, told Mic. The study found that mental distractions can persist for as long as 27 seconds after using hands-free or voice-activated systems, as drivers readjust to the task of driving. Distraction was measured by pushing a button when an LED light flashed in a participant’s periphery.