车载免提产品，杀手or杀手级应用？

下次当我以75英里每小时的速度开着丰田汽车外出的时候，我将啪地一声打开我打算在几天内看完的这本书。据我所知，没有一项法律禁止在开车时看书。如果我能把书架在仪表板上，甚至可以把它当成是“免提”产品，并且这并不违反任何安全法规。 只要是免提的东西，就被视为是安全的。至少汽车厂商希望你这么认为。据《华尔街日报》上面的一篇文章，汽车不久将具有以下能力： 福特汽车：收听互联网音乐，浏览新闻和播客，发送推文(Tweet)
丰田汽车：购买电影票，餐厅订位，观察股票行情，在Bing上搜索
通用汽车：播放视频和幻灯片，通过语音指令访问歌曲
特斯拉汽车：具有17英寸屏幕的无线互联网，USB插头
奔驰：浏览Facebook，阅读推特(Twitter)文章，使用谷歌本地搜索和Yelp 而同样是这些汽车厂商，每天都在大做广告突出其汽车的安全性。我猜测，如果你在驾驶过程中因为更新Facebook而发生撞车事故的话，防抱死刹车和安全气囊一定会随时救驾。 不能说免提应用就是“安全的”。如果你的视线离开了道路，就会走神。而注意力不集中正是引起事故的祸首。 以下是《华尔街日报》援引的一些数据，显示了分心驾驶的利弊： 汽车厂商提到的研究报告，包括弗吉尼亚科技运输学院研究人员发表的一份报告，该报告显示，开车时通过手机交谈发生撞车或接近撞车的风险会比正常驾驶高出1.3倍，而用手拨号则发生事故的风险会增加2.8倍。在开车时发送短信，发生车祸或者接近发生车祸的风险上升20多倍。 这些数据是通过每天利用摄像头监视数百名司机收集到的，它让汽车厂商和管理机构得到这样的结论：“免提”通话是安全的。其它研究，包括美国犹他大学研究员Michael Strayer所作的一项研究，显示开车时通话，不管是否免提，同样危险。多数较新型汽车电子系统允许司机通过触摸屏进行控制。 汽车厂商坚称，他们在汽车中堆砌各种电子娱乐功能，只是提供人们想要的东西。连接性是其中的头号功能。我认可这点。但连接与娱乐是两回事。在开车时更新Facebook或者推特，确实有这种急迫需求吗？如果真是重要的事情，你的熟人不会给你打电话吗？ 事实是，即使我的手仍旧放在放向盘上面，这些功能多数会让人分散注意力。其中多数功能会让我的眼神离开道路几秒钟。但你的语音驱动系统有多少次误解了你说的话？或者搜索引擎执行了错误的搜索？或者系统询问“你是这个意思吗？”你是否收到过令人心烦意乱的短信？ 这就涉及到了技术问题。语音驱动已经改善了。触摸屏技术和智能功能(如你的设备预知你想要干什么)则没有太大进展。我经常在触摸屏上触到错误的按键，而且我的打字功夫很差。我不停地取消输入，删除错误内容。我重新开始。有时我会摸索正确的按钮或者在我迅速过时的汽车中寻找拨号盘。 触摸屏知道你想打开收音机而不是雨刷？我还没碰到过这么聪明的触摸屏。对于花费几十年时间来开发和测试汽车安全技术的一个产业来说，对于消费电子方面的标准却非常松懈。界面质量参差不齐，我在公路上开车时根本没有要么多的精力来操作它们。我最需要指引方向或者更新新闻及交通信息的时候，是我在开车全速前进的时候，我已经非常紧张了。换句话说，注意力不太集中了。 我知道人们会在路上花费几个小时，上述多数功能都非常有用。如果能把这些功能限制在每小时20英里或者更低车速时使用，我会感觉更安全一些。实际上，我知道存在这种技术。同时，我将通过微博告诉你我下次约会将走的路线，你如果怕被我“撞上”，可以找另一条路线：） 本文授权编译自EBN Online，版权所有，谢绝转载 参考英文原文：The Illusion of 'Hands-Free' Electronics, by Barbara Jorgensen, EBN Community Editor

相关阅读：
• 首款基于以太网的汽车环视系统将在明年实现量产
• CES：奔驰分享汽车电子与电动车研究最新进展
• 百兆以太网进入汽车，主攻ADAS和全景泊车应用aIAesmc

{pagination} The Illusion of 'Hands-Free' Electronics 1, by Barbara Jorgensen, EBN Community Editor The next time I am out driving at 75mph in my beat-up Toyota minivan, I'm going to crack open the book I've been trying to finish for a couple of days now. As far as I can tell, there are no laws against reading while driving. If I can prop the book up on my dashboard, it will even be considered "hands-free," so I know it won't violate any kind of safety rules. As long as something is hands-free, it is considered safe. At least that is what car manufacturers want you to think. According to an article in The Wall Street Journal, the following capabilities will soon be available in automobiles: Ford: Stream Internet music, access news and podcasts, send a Tweet Toyota: Buy movie tickets, book a table, check stocks, search on Bing General Motors: Play videos and slide shows, access songs via voice command Tesla Motors: Wireless Internet with 17-inch-screen, USB plugs Mercedes-Benz: Check Facebook, read Twitter posts, use Google Local Search and Yelp These are the same car makers that advertise the safety features of their automobiles every single day. I guess antilock brakes and airbags do come in handy if you are involved in a collision because you were updating your Facebook status while driving. Hands-free does not qualify as "safe." If you take your eyes off the road, you are distracted. Distraction is what causes accidents. Here is some data cited by the WSJ that supports both sides of the distracted-driving argument: Auto makers point to studies, including one by researchers at Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, which show that talking on a cellphone increases the risk of a crash or near-crash by 1.3 times over regular driving, while physically dialing a number increased the risk 2.8 times. A person is more than 20 times more likely to be in a crash or near crash while sending text messages. Such data, which was gathered by monitoring hundreds of hours of drivers with cameras in day-to-day driving, has guided auto makers and the administration to the conclusion that "hands-free" activities are safe. Other studies, including one by University of Utah researcher Michael Strayer, show that talking on the phone, hands free or not, is equally dangerous. Most of newer car-electronics systems permit access to controls through a touch screen. Carmakers insist they are just giving people what they want by piling electronics entertainment features in their cars. Being connected is a No. 1 priority. I get that. But there's a difference between being connected and being entertained. Is it really urgent that you get Facebook updates or tweets while you are driving? If something were that important, wouldn't your acquaintances call? The fact is, even if my hands are still on the steering wheel, most of these functions are distracting. I would have to take my eyes off the road for a few seconds for most of them. But how many times have your voice-activated systems misinterpreted what you were saying? Or a search engine turns up the wrong search? Or asks you "Did you mean X?" Have you ever gotten a tweet that is upsetting? Then there is the issue of the technology. Voice activation has gotten better. Touchscreen technology and smart features (e.g. your device anticipating what you are about to ask for) have not. I touch the wrong thing all the time on touchscreens, and my typing isn't much better. I cancel; I delete. I start again. Sometimes I still grope for the right knob or dial in my rapidly-aging minivan. Does a touchscreen know you meant to turn on the radio and not the wipers? I haven't met one that does. For an industry that spends decades developing and testing safety technology for vehicles, the standard for consumer electronics is surprisingly lax. The interfaces are still spotty and require a lot more attention than I can spare when I am on a highway. And the time I most need directions or to get updated on news and traffic is when I am driving full speed ahead and already stressed. In other words, distracted. I understand people spend hours sitting in traffic, and that's when most of these functions are the most useful. If there was a way to limit these functions to speeds of 20mph or less, I might feel a bit safer. In fact, I know that technology exists. In the meantime, I'll tweet you about what route I am taking to my next appointment and you can find an alternative. I've got some reading to catch up on.