Head-up displays like Google Glass were supposed to make it safer for drivers to multitask. Instead of reaching for a phone to send or receive a text, a driver would be able to read projected messages and dictate replies without taking their hands off the wheel.
But groups like Consumers Union and the National Safety Council have cautioned that hands-free, voice-based interfaces can still be dangerously distracting. New research is confirming their fears.
A peer-reviewed study conducted at the University of Central Florida in partnership with the Air Force Research Laboratory compared how 40 twenty-something-year-old drivers in a car simulator reacted to a vehicle ahead of them that slammed on the breaks. Researchers found subjects who were exchanging messages using Google Glass or a smartphone were equally slow to respond.
"While Glass-delivered messaging has benefits, it does not in any way make driving-while-messaging safe," said lead researcher Ben D. Sawyer.
Wearers of Google Glass did appear to recover more quickly after the near crash, but they also left less distance between their car and cars ahead, suggesting that Glass reduced their perception of risk.
A similar study conducted by researchers at Wichita State University last year compared speech-based texting (not necessarily using Google Glass) to handheld texting. It found that both significantly impaired driver performance and caused variation in speed and lane position.
However, Jibo He, an assistant professor of psychology and the lead researcher on the Wichita study, believes Glass may have some benefits over regular smartphones. In February, he told Glass Almanac he had compared Glass users and smartphone users and found that Glass users were less likely to drift out of their lanes when looking at information. In contrast to the UCF study, he also found that Glass users drove slower and followed other vehicles less closely.
Federal regulators at the Department of Transportation equate the dangers of distracted driving with the risk of driving without a seatbelt or driving while intoxicated. And, of all the possible distractions that the DOT is worried about, including eating and drinking, grooming, adjusting the radio and talking to passengers, texting is considered the worst.
In April, the department coordinated a nation-wide crackdown: "U Drive. U Text. U Pay." "Because text messaging requires visual, manual and cognitive attention from the driver, it is by far the most alarming distraction," proclaimed Distraction.gov.
So far, texting while driving has been banned in 44 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. At least twelve states prohibit the use of handheld cellphones while driving, and at least eight states have considered legislation that would make it illegal to use Google Glass and other wearable computers while driving.
Last year, a California woman who was pulled over for speeding was also charged with "driving w/monitor visible to driver (Google Glass)". The charge was later dismissed by a judge because there was no evidence that the woman had been actually using Glass.
