Technology

Driven to distraction

High-tech options in cars look good but can take our eyes off the road. Here’s a list of what’s hands free and what’s hands off.

By Jeff Rundles

Technology is nearly omnipresent in our world today. This is all especially true when it comes to our cars, as they have become virtual offices and command centers that also happen to act as personal transportation.

Much of the technology in cars, of course, has to do with connectivity—hooking up apps from our smartphones, with hands-free Bluetooth, and voice commands for navigation, radio channels, finding restaurants and more. Not to mention entertainment systems so rear-seat passengers (read: kids) can engage with movies or video games and cease with the “when are we going to be there?” questions. And then there’s all the stuff for comfort: heated and cooled seats, seats that contour to our bodies and massage our tired muscles, lights that intuitively come on at night as we approach, keyless entry, lift gates in the back that open with a wave of a foot.

But a ton of the new tech is aimed directly at safety: pre-collision braking, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alerts, lane departure alerts, 360-degree cameras and radar that assist dynamic cruise control, just to name a few.

Is all this high technology really making cars safer? While I like some of the safety and security features, I feel technology makes cars less safe because it’s such a distraction that people pay more attention to their technology options than on the job at hand: driving.