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Automotive Industry

Death By Distraction - Statistical Data Included

Automotive Industries, May, 2000 by Gerry Kobe

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Terrell says E-GM is very familiar with cognitive distraction and is actually working with NHTSA to help understand and quantify the problem. But in lieu of having that research finished, she says the new Cadillac system and any future GM communication/information interface will have four key elements to make it safe.

First it will minimize eyes-off-road and hands-off-wheel time. It will also be designed to reduce the number of steps and complexity to operate any feature, whether it is by voice recognition or buttons. In addition, it will be common across all GM platforms so that improvements are driven into all vehicle lines. And finally, the system will have built-in safeguards that will not allow distractive functions while driving.

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Dennis Wilke, corporate vp and director of strategy business development for Motorola's integrated electronics systems sector, says Cadillac is taking the right approach and that voice recognition and text-to-speech is fundamental to a safe system. Motorola recently announced a partnership with interior system supplier Lear, and Wilke says that relationship allows early involvement and the ability to build features into a car rather than adding them on. He says that is the key to what will make the new technologies safe.

"If we do these systems right, we can help drivers stay out of demanding traffic situations," Wilke asserts. "Navigation systems will be coupled with real-time traffic information that will keep you out of congested areas, slippery roads or backups from accidents. It will also tell you when your freeway exit is coming, and if you're not familiar with the area, it will even tell you what side of the road the exit is on. Imagine if we never again had people darting across three lanes of traffic to avoid a traffic backup or to get off on an exit at the last minute. That's the plus side of these systems."

It is also true that the much-maligned cellular phone has a plus side, summoning road service for stranded motorists, giving access to police and ambulance following an accident, or just providing a margin of safety for people travelling alone. Wilke says that because of these positive factors, he feels there is no question that cell phones in cars will reach a point where they are standard on every vehicle regardless of price point. But it still doesn't resolve the issue of how to implement them safely.

One solution that is being discussed is generically called "driver's advocate." UMTRI's Green says the idea has been discussed by a number of systems suppliers, and is supported by his group. Driver's advocate is a work load manager that uses the various sensors on a vehicle to monitor the driving situation. It would also have personal information about the driver, so that it could look at all the factors and determine how much mental and physical capacity the driver has left to safely deal with other sources of information.

"It would monitor curves in the road, or slippery conditions or heavy traffic," says Green. `Then if there was suddenly an incoming phone call, the system would factor in that it is an older driver, in heavy traffic, on a slippery, winding road. It would conclude that it is not safe for the driver to get a phone call, so it would send back a recorded message that the driver is busy and then go into an answering machine function. Then when the conditions improve, the message would be presented to the driver."

Automotive Industry

Death By Distraction - Statistical Data Included

Automotive Industries, May, 2000 by Gerry Kobe

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