Tessa has just bought herself a new car. She’s excited because it has a whole lot of features that her old car didn’t – like adaptive cruise control, warning systems, self-parking, a blind spot monitor and her favourite feature, the voice command infotainment system. 

She’s enjoying the new features and finds herself exploring each one every time she drives. She also notices that she’s somehow become a bit more distracted- thanks to her new gadgets.  

What would usually be a simple trip to a new area for her one day, becomes a nightmare of excessive hooting, road rage and indicating into the wrong lanes. In the past, she would have passed by a petrol station to ask for directions and headed on her way. Now she has a fancy GPS system which takes about 40 seconds to programme while she’s driving. She ends up taking her eyes off the road for a bit too long, nearly causes an accident and also has to listen to the blaring warning system beep and flash all kinds of warnings as she tries to collect herself and concentrate again. 

It’s at this exact time that her Bluetooth connected system receives a call from her mother, which she answers, leaving her even more distracted.  

Moral of the story – there is some new car technology that impedes the driving experience in some ways.  

While technological advancements have been great for the future of motoring, studies have shown that some drivers find some of the features distracting. There have also been numerous accidents caused by drivers who have relied a bit too much on some of this technology.  

While the future seems set on self-driving cars, research has also shown that most drivers are reluctant to fully entrust their safety to a computer-controlled car. 

Car manufacturers and designers definitely have a long way to go before finding the perfect technology to meet the needs of drivers, while ensuring complete safety and to find ways around improving new car technology that impedes the driving experience.