Study: Technology Aimed To Prevent Distracted Driving, Makes It Worse

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Just because you can talk to your car, doesn't mean you should. Two new studies, out Tuesday morning, take a look at technology aimed at preventing distracted-driving. But those studies say they're actually making the problem worse.

These studies were done by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety and the University of Utah.

They looked at technology that's now become standard in some vehicles -- voice-activated smartphone connectivity and dashboard systems.

The goal of these systems is to keep people from taking their eyes of the road, allowing drivers do things like tune the radio, send a text message or make a phone call by simply speaking out loud.

But researchers found that many of these systems are so error-prone or complex, that they require more concentration from drivers rather than less.

They ranked the systems of several major car makers and Apple's Siri voice system on a scale of one to five -- one being no distraction and five being a major distraction that takes as much concentration as doing complex math problems.

Apple's Siri received the worst rating at 4.14.

In two cases, test drivers using Siri in a driving simulator rear-ended another car.

Chevrolet's My Link came in next with 3.7.

Mercedes, Ford and Chrysler weren't as bad but rated more distracting for drivers than simply talking on a hand-held cellphone.

There are two systems that did get good rankings when it comes to low distraction. The Toyota's Entune received a 1.7, the equivalent of listening to an audiobook. And Hyundai's Blue Lin Telematic System received a 2.2.