There's a whole lot of criticism floating around about the use of mobile phones in cars. But there's not a lot of hard evidence as to their connection with accidents.
Nobody's done real research into the area. But that changes from next week, when Ford Motor Company begins testing drivers in a specially-built simulator in Dearborn, Michigan.
Sixty volunteers will take part in the experiment, which is hoping to have publishable results in early 2002.
The simulator is a Ford Taurus car set on hydraulic 'stilts' inside a white fabric dome on which can be projected a 'moving' highway.
Researchers will phone the drivers at different stages of the driving period, and measure their eye movements and reaction times in different situations, including running a deer 'in front of' the 'moving' car.
The hydraulic setup can simulate road feel and different terrains, as well as the attitude of the car in different situations.
The research is driven by the increasing development of in-car information systems by all the major carmakers, giving a real need to have hard evidence on the distraction factor of various communications and entertainment elements.
It is in one way a race against the legislators, as in the US a number of states are considering following a New York ban on the use of telephones in moving cars.
In the US alone there are more than 100 million cell phones in use, a large proportion of them in cars, either as fixtures or handhelds.
The upcoming technologies which are using wireless and internet systems to provide an ever-increasing range of services are being developed both by carmakers and communications companies. It's a business estimated to be worth more than $20 billion by 2006.
In Europe, Fiat Auto's CONNECT system is being taken up by buyers of the company's Alfa cars, and the provision of the system will be a key selling point in Fiat's upcoming Stilo replacement for the Brava.
In the US, Delphi Automotive has developed its proprietary telematics product, while Ford plans to roll out its Wingcast system in 2003. General Motors already offers its own system to buyers of its luxury cars, including Cadillacs.
The systems can provide a wide range of in-car services, from straightforward navigation and traffic information to virtual 'Yellow Pages' of consumer information ... drivers can, for instance, ask for the location of and connection to inns and restaurants.
They can also be used to summon emergency services where needed.
Some opponents suggest that the increase of such telematics in cars is upping the danger of accidents as drivers are distracted more and more. And it has been established that some 10 per cent of accidents involve an element of driver distraction.
Many communications systems are now offering 'voice actuation', but the need for a driver to concentrate on speaking to his in-car systems might in itself be a distraction, according to some safety organisations.
The upcoming Ford research will set a benchmark on driver distraction by the increasingly sophisticated 'talkback' from cars. The engineers hope they can then design systems with low distraction factors.
Trouble is, while it's easy enough to mentally tune out Gerry Ryan on your radio, when you've asked for directions to a romantic restaurant on the way to a seductive night out with a sexy partner, you'll be paying attention to the response ... and to the partner.
Maybe too much attention. It's a scenario which the drivers in the dome in Dearborn might want to try out. And not as a simulation.
August 2001
by Brian Byrne