AAA Foundation: Infotainment Systems distract and endanger drivers

Vehicle infotainment systems take drivers eyes off the road and hands off the wheel for potentially dangerous periods of time, according to the latest research from the American Automobile Association’s Foundation for Traffic Safety (AFTF). The AFTF commissioned researchers from the University of Utah to examine visual (eyes off road) and cognitive (mental) demands and the time taken to complete infotainment systems tasks on 120 drivers aged 12 -36 on 30 new 2017 model-year vehicles.
October 6, 2017 Read time: 2 mins

Vehicle infotainment systems take drivers eyes off the road and hands off the wheel for potentially dangerous periods of time, according to the latest research from the 1765 American Automobile Association’s Foundation for Traffic Safety (AFTF).

The AFTF commissioned researchers from the University of Utah to examine visual (eyes off road) and cognitive (mental) demands and the time taken to complete infotainment systems tasks on 120 drivers aged 12 -36 on 30 new 2017 model-year vehicles. The participants used voice command, touch screen and other technologies to make a call, send a text message, tune the radio or program navigation on down the road. 

The research found that drivers using voice-based and touch screen features were visually and mentally distracted for more than 40 seconds and that a driver travelling at 40km/h (25mph) can travel the length of four football pitches in the time it can take to enter a destination in navigation.

None of the 30 vehicles infotainment systems produced low demand on drivers; while 12 systems generated very high demand, 11 generated high demand and 7 systems provided a moderate level demand. The researchers equate very high demand as the equivalent of a driver trying to balance a cheque book while driving and low-level demand to listening to the radio or an audiobook.

Researchers found infotainment systems could be made safer by following federal recommendations such as locking out text messaging, social media and programming navigation while the car is in motion.

Urban Traffic Control

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Adaptive cruise control can mitigate phantom traffic jams, says Ford
    July 10, 2018
    Phantom traffic jams can be minimised through adaptive cruise control (ACC) technology, says Ford. These traffic jams occur when one driver hits the brakes and causes a chain reaction of other drivers tapping their brakes which causes traffic flow to halt. Ford conducted a test alongside Vanderbilt University researchers on a closed test track involving 36 vehicles across three lanes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GYfXxVn2Oc The motor company says the main causes of phantom jams are human fa
    Read More
  • Gearing up for IntelliDrive cooperative traffic management
    February 1, 2012
    Beginning in the first quarter of 2010 it became evident that the IntelliDrivesm programme direction had been reestablished, by the USDOT's ITS Joint Program Office (JPO), after being adrift for a few years. The programme was now moving toward a deployment future and with a much broader stakeholder involvement than it had exhibited previously. By today not only is it evident that the programme was reestablished with a renewed emphasis on deployment, it is also apparent that it is moving along at a faster pa
    Read More
  • Major car makers opt for TomTom
    March 4, 2015
    TomTom has announced new deals with motor manufacturers Kia Motors Europe, Fiat/Chrysler in Latin America and Hyundai in Europe. Starting in summer 2015, the company will integrate its connected services, including TomTom Traffic, speed cameras, local search and weather, in new Kia cars, beginning with the Kia cee’d and Kia Optima, and in Hyundai cars starting with the launch of the All-New Tucson SUV in the second half of 2015. Kia and Hyundai customers will benefit from the delivery of TomTom’s connected
    Read More
  • EVs: Time for a rethink
    December 14, 2021
    Given a growing body of evidence that EVs are not the clean, green machines they are made out to be, Andrew Bunn suggests they can only be part of the puzzle – not the answer to environmental problems
    Read More

Highlighted Content