Solving the Driver Distraction Dilemma
by Patrick Ponticel, Assistant Editor
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Lacking the know-how to make multitasking experts of all drivers, the automotive industry is in a quandary as to how to meet consumer demand for greater in-vehicle electronic communications capability without creating too much distraction for safe vehicle operation. Automakers and suppliers are not signing on to the proposition that, because the driver is solely responsible for safe vehicle operation, they would be serving consumers' best interests by cramming as many electronic functions as possible into their new models.
"As we introduce new technologies, we as manufacturers do have an obligation to understand the impact of those technologies," said Jim Foley, a Human Factors Technical Specialist with Visteon and Chairman of an SAE committee exploring the issue.
 Visteon voice technology is used in the Jaguar S-TYPE, with associated controls on the steering wheel. |
Like many other suppliers and automakers, Visteon has studied human factors issues extensively. "We have a logic, which we call driver distraction control, that is part of the specification of our advanced products," Foley said. "What we do is look at how complicated an action is and have a cutoff as to whether that action should be accessible while driving or while stationary."
For example, Foley said, manually searching for nearby automated teller machines from an onboard computer screen listing 1000 of them is a type of mental task suitable for a driver only while the vehicle is stationary. However, reading a list of only the five closest ATMs (possible in a vehicle equipped with GPS and appropriate software) can be done safely while driving.
Even safer would be obtaining ATM locations by voice. Though Visteon is putting a "tremendous focus" on voice technology, it is not the silver bullet some believe it to be, according to Foley: "What bothers me is that you have some nonautomotive tech companies that want to be in this business saying, 'It's voice, of course it's safe.' But there are studies showing that is not necessarily the case. You can have your eyes on the road, but not your mind. We want drivers to have both their eyes and their mind on the road."
Foley added that tests Visteon has conducted on a Ford simulator show that, with a voice interface, older drivers can control functions almost as well as young drivers. The difference in performance is much greater with manual interfaces. "But like any other control strategy, it (voice interface) must be designed properly to achieve the desired result," he noted.
Noise filtering and accent recognition are the two greatest technological challenges associated with voice-recognition technology, according to Foley - the latter being the more difficult nut to crack.
Although OEMs - not suppliers - decide the extent to which voice technology will be used in vehicles (it is already being used in a handful of 2000 vehicles), Visteon as a Tier 1 supplier has input. "If an OEM tells us it wants e-mail access in the form of text on an 8-in color screen," Foley said, "we may come back and say, 'We have the technology to do that, but why not use text-to-speech so the driver doesn't have to read 20 lines of text while driving?'"
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