The touchscreen of your car may distract you more than you think
Touchscreen displays in modern cars can significantly reduce driving safety. A new study by the University of Washington and the Toyota Research Institute shows that working with touchscreens impairs vehicle control and sharply reduces driver action accuracy.
What is known
The experiment involved 16 people in a car simulator with a 12-inch central display. Participants simultaneously operated the vehicle, interacted with the screen, and performed a task simulating typical cognitive load in real traffic. Researchers tracked eye and hand movements, as well as physiological indicators of attention.
Even without additional tasks, drivers deviated from their lane 42% more often when using the touchscreen. Interface efficiency dropped by 58% while driving and another 17% during increased mental load.
Attention behavior also changed. Glances at the screen became 26% shorter, and the number of "blind" tapping attempts increased from 63% to 71%, leading to misses and longer visual searches.
The authors note that as automakers move away from physical buttons in favor of larger displays, the risk of driver attention overload increases. They mention adaptive interfaces, which can simplify management and hide secondary functions when the system detects high load levels, as a possible solution.
Source: UW
