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Some research needs to be done on how distracting Glass is to drivers. I'm particularly interested in comparing the distraction caused by using Glass to navigat

Some research needs to be done on how distracting Glass is to drivers. I'm particularly interested in comparing the distraction caused by using Glass to navigate compared to the typical built-in navigation systems that ship with most cars today. I suspect that Glass would beat out the Garmins and Tomtoms.

ben1040 13y ago
If you're using Glass for navigation, it generally stays out of the way. If you're approaching a turn you're due to make, it will beep at you and a voice will tell you what to do. Only at that point does the screen come on, and displays a fairly simple map drawing. Once you take the turn, the screen fades off. If you're wearing Glass properly, the screen is also up at an angle above your eye. If you're sitting in the driver's seat of a vehicle and looking forward, the display would be about at the area where your sun visor would be if it were flipped down over the top of your windshield.
vacri 13y ago
Giving our office's Glass to people to test, they're so distracted that they'll walk into things. Sometimes these things are pillars clearly visible at eye level. I personally hate the idea of drivers wearing these things. My undergraduate was in psychology, neurophysiology, and hence I've been formally trained in attention and perception - I've got a better idea than layfolk on how these are compromised, though I'm not a professional in the field. In my opinion, the Glass is a significant attentional split - which is bad for driving. One example: say voice control is working fine (it doesn't always). You still have to take your eyes off the road, target a small reticle, make sure the glass is responding correctly. Even after that, there's still issues like just having a phone call in the car, which regardless of the device is a driving-performance-reducing attentional split. Glass really, really impresses me as a technological feat; as a product I think it's a solution looking for a problem; and as a social phenomenon, I think it's quite dangerous when mixed with common activities like driving.
- chii 13y ago
  i expect driving to become automated sooner or later tho. I think human driving is the major cause of accidents, and automating it is really the best way to save lives, create better traffic conditions for smoother transportation, and also relieve the time required for the driver, so that other activities can be engaged. Think about the avg hourly commute to work - how useful would it be if that time could be used for something else!
  - gaius 13y ago
    Like consuming media laced with advertising!
saulrh 13y ago
Here's some research from Thad Starner, who is actually the person in charge of the Glass project over at Google: Citation: http://dmrussell.net/CHI2010/docs/p1695.pdf http://dmrussell.net/CHI2010/docs/p1695.pdf. He studied the performance of people doing a warehouse box-filling task using orders given on paper in a couple of forms, spoken, or presented through a head-mounted display like Glass. Summary was that workers using HDMs are more focused, work faster, and commit fewer errors overall, mostly because they spend less time switching contexts and have the information much more available.
- marvin 13y ago
  A warehouse job doesn't require constant attention and have moving hazards randomly show up, though. I don't think this research generalizes to driving a car.
  - gretful 13y ago
    wow, you've never worked in a warehouse have you? People die in warehouses due to not paying attention.
dchichkov 13y ago
Anecdotal evidence for you. I've tried driving in it a few times and wearing Glass wile driving is very distracting during the night time. Even when the glass was switched off every light was reflecting on the sides, it was distracting me from driving and in around twenty minutes (I was driving to Tahoe) I've started getting a headache and felt slightly nauseated (not normal for me, I can read in the car fine, without feeling any nausea). It all right during daytime, you barely notice when Glass is off and using navigation during daytime is also Ok (better than looking at a cellphone, worse than having voice-guided navigation).

ben1040 13y ago

If you're using Glass for navigation, it generally stays out of the way. If you're approaching a turn you're due to make, it will beep at you and a voice will tell you what to do. Only at that point does the screen come on, and displays a fairly simple map drawing. Once you take the turn, the screen fades off. If you're wearing Glass properly, the screen is also up at an angle above your eye. If you're sitting in the driver's seat of a vehicle and looking forward, the display would be about at the area where your sun visor would be if it were flipped down over the top of your windshield.

vacri 13y ago

Giving our office's Glass to people to test, they're so distracted that they'll walk into things. Sometimes these things are pillars clearly visible at eye level. I personally hate the idea of drivers wearing these things. My undergraduate was in psychology, neurophysiology, and hence I've been formally trained in attention and perception - I've got a better idea than layfolk on how these are compromised, though I'm not a professional in the field. In my opinion, the Glass is a significant attentional split - which is bad for driving. One example: say voice control is working fine (it doesn't always). You still have to take your eyes off the road, target a small reticle, make sure the glass is responding correctly. Even after that, there's still issues like just having a phone call in the car, which regardless of the device is a driving-performance-reducing attentional split. Glass really, really impresses me as a technological feat; as a product I think it's a solution looking for a problem; and as a social phenomenon, I think it's quite dangerous when mixed with common activities like driving.

chii 13y ago
i expect driving to become automated sooner or later tho. I think human driving is the major cause of accidents, and automating it is really the best way to save lives, create better traffic conditions for smoother transportation, and also relieve the time required for the driver, so that other activities can be engaged. Think about the avg hourly commute to work - how useful would it be if that time could be used for something else!
- gaius 13y ago
  Like consuming media laced with advertising!

saulrh 13y ago

Here's some research from Thad Starner, who is actually the person in charge of the Glass project over at Google: Citation: http://dmrussell.net/CHI2010/docs/p1695.pdf http://dmrussell.net/CHI2010/docs/p1695.pdf. He studied the performance of people doing a warehouse box-filling task using orders given on paper in a couple of forms, spoken, or presented through a head-mounted display like Glass. Summary was that workers using HDMs are more focused, work faster, and commit fewer errors overall, mostly because they spend less time switching contexts and have the information much more available.

marvin 13y ago
A warehouse job doesn't require constant attention and have moving hazards randomly show up, though. I don't think this research generalizes to driving a car.
- gretful 13y ago
  wow, you've never worked in a warehouse have you? People die in warehouses due to not paying attention.

dchichkov 13y ago

Anecdotal evidence for you. I've tried driving in it a few times and wearing Glass wile driving is very distracting during the night time. Even when the glass was switched off every light was reflecting on the sides, it was distracting me from driving and in around twenty minutes (I was driving to Tahoe) I've started getting a headache and felt slightly nauseated (not normal for me, I can read in the car fine, without feeling any nausea). It all right during daytime, you barely notice when Glass is off and using navigation during daytime is also Ok (better than looking at a cellphone, worse than having voice-guided navigation).