IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2015 - 90

enable drivers to place handheld calls, and also to send
and receive text messages.
The next step in this first wave of development is the
emergence of devices that make it possible for drivers
to talk on the phone without taking a hand off the steering wheel or eyes off the road. While several advances
have enabled such "hands-free" calling, popular early
options included speakerphones and ear-peace-style
headsets. Automotive manufacturers join this line of
development by offering systems that make it possible
for the car itself to link up to the phone, empowering
drivers to answer and dial the phone through dashboard
interface and steering-wheel-mounted knobs and buttons. While some consider hands-free and dashboardintegrated phone interface to be a major improvement
for safety over handheld options, we will see in the next
section that the science of distracted driving has complicated the issue, and that hands-free calling remains a
sticky problem for traffic policy.

Automakers such as Nissan
and Audi are exploring options
for smartwatches that link up
directly to the car.
Wave 2: Mobile Computing,
Infotainment, and Dictation
The advent of mobile computing in the form of smartphone technologies has enabled a new level of connection to the world outside the cab. If for the purposes of
this article we consider cell phones, texting, and handsfree calling to be a first wave of in-cab connectivity,
then mobile computing and its dashboard corollaries
present a "second wave."
Smartphones of course allow users to access the
Internet and use applications, as well as call and text.
Like the way some drivers engage in handheld texting
while driving, smartphones additionally make it possible for drivers to utilize apps and surf the web. Some
drivers even admit to giving in to the temptation to use
a smartphone to access the Internet while driving. For
example, an ongoing survey conducted by the insurance
company State Farm finds that 26% of drivers report
that they have used the Internet while behind the wheel
in 2013, a sharp rise from 13% in 2009 [6].
A crucial development in this second wave of incab connectivity is the advent of voice-to-text translators. Such programs enable an additional form of

communication that can be engaged while behind the
wheel: hands-free writing, such as texting and email.
With hands-free texting, users - including drivers -
can listen to incoming texts read aloud, and can compose and send texts by voice. Smartphone personal
assistant applications, like the iPhone's popular "Siri"
program, make it possible to control many of a device's
functions through a conversation style interface. They
enable not only hands-free access to texting, but also
other text-based communications, from email to social
media.
In what is now sometimes called "infotainment systems," automotive companies build smart computing
systems into the cab, controlled through dashboard
interface, voice command, and touchscreens. Options
vary. These systems often include Internet or satellite
radio, and advanced GPS and Internet mapping. Paired
with smartphones, they can enable hands-free call
options, hands-free texting, pre-set text replies, and
even limited app usage. For example, Ford's Sync system [7] will read aloud text messages for you, and
enables customizable pre-set text replies to be sent.
Like Sync, Toyota's Entune system [8] boasts steeringwheel-mounted buttons for answering the phone, hanging up, and toggling to voice command.

Wave 3: Wearables, Smartphone-Style
Dashboard Interface
The goal of this article is to anticipate and articulate the
next wave of in-cab connectivity, and to speculate about
what forms of driver distraction may be peculiar to
these emerging technologies. I suggest that two newly
emerging technologies may compose this oncoming
"third wave": wearable computing, and dashboard systems that replicate the common smartphone interface.
The cover of the March 2015 issue of Self features
a model wearing Apple's new smartwatch, marking the
first time this sort of device has made the cover of a
U.S. lifestyle magazine [9]. This is a small part of the
rollout for Apple Watch, which has generated much
fanfare, and now joins a field that includes Sony's
Smartwatch, Pebble Watch, and other devices. Earlier in 2015, a "Kickstarter" crowdsourcing campaign
for the development of Pebble Time, a follow-up to
Pebble's earlier smartwatch, broke fundraising records
[10]. Smartwatch use is still far from commonplace,
and at the time of this writing the long-term success
or failure Apple Watch and Pebble Time remains to be
seen. What we can say is that wearable computing in
the form of watches (and other wrist-worn devices) is
increasing in popularity. Smartwatches enable access
to many of the apps available through a paired smartphone, from calendar alerts, to maps, to social media,
to voice-interface personal assistants like the iPhone's

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December 2015

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