A University of Windsor professor who studies distracted driving believes there need to be better standards when it comes to advanced technology being added to infotainment systems in vehicles.
Dr. Francesco Biondi, an associate professor in the University of Windsor's Faculty of Human Kinetics and research chair in human factors, points to AI applications being added to various vehicle infotainment systems to help with things like navigation systems and phone calls, systems he says are not developed with the human at the centre.
"They're designed with the technology at their centre. Just because a new system or gizmo is available, that technology is being introduced into cars," he says. "Too little consideration is being given to road safety or driver distraction."
His concern is that the infotainment technology can become a distraction for drivers, especially when there is a glitch or a problem and they're trying to fix it while behind the wheel.
Biondi says there is too much packed into vehicles these days and some of the systems are hard to use.
"The problem I see is that is there is more and more tech being added into vehicles but not a sufficient amount of concern going into how that technology is going to effect drivers," he says.
Biondi says, in his opinion, there should be more standardization and oversight around what's allowed and not allowed in vehicles.
"We shouldn't be having touchscreens in the car as big as TVs; that's not safe. If you're driving, your task is to drive," he says. "Having a big TV there that you can interact with, you do navigation, media, etc.; that's just not safe."
Biondi says there are a lot of 'good players' within the auto industry who are investing a lot of money and resources into distracted driving to make their systems safer than the competition.
While he's not necessarily advocating for government intervention, he believes there needs to be more education along with more standards within the auto industry to ensure the technology being added is actually safe for the driver to use.