Siri Distracting To Drivers

It has been found that ‘Siri’ and other voice-activated systems designed to keep drivers’ eyes on the road are as distracting as making a mobile phone call.

The studies conducted on this measured the drivers’ mental capacity, reaction time and heart rate during the tests. They found that not all the in-car systems were the same, with some significantly more distracting than others, but the majority of them were as distracting as a demanding mental maths problem.

In a simulator, interacting with Siri caused two virtual crashes despite the driver only interacting with Siri using their voice and not looking at the screen or tapping any buttons.

The research concluded that while well-designed voice control systems with minimal steps and accurate recognition could potentially be less distracting than manual controls, clicking a button or flicking a switch was much faster and less dangerous.

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