Voice-Activated In-Car Systems Are Called Risky

These systems let drivers use voice commands to dictate a text, send an e-mail and even update a Facebook page. Automakers say the systems not only address safety concerns, but also cater to consumers who increasingly want to stay connected on the Internet while driving.

“What we really have on our hands is a looming public safety crisis with the proliferation of these vehicles,” said Yolanda Cade, a spokeswoman for AAA, whose Foundation for Traffic Safety released the study on Wednesday. She characterized the rush to equip cars with Internet-enabled systems as “an arms race.”

The study is among the most exhaustive look to date at the new in-car technology and sets up a potential clash between safety advocates and the auto industry, given that automakers increasingly see profit potential in the new systems.

In some high-end luxury cars, like the BMW 7-series sedan, drivers can dictate e-mails or text messages. And some mainstream models are equipped with options that can translate voice messages into text. The Chevrolet Sonic compact car, for example, has a system that allows drivers to compose texts verbally on an iPhone connected in the vehicle.

More than half of all new cars will integrate some type of voice recognition by 2019, according to the electronics consulting firm IMS Research. The auto companies argue that these systems are safer because they are hands-free.

“We are concerned about any study that suggests that hand-held phones are comparably risky to the hands-free systems we are putting in our vehicles,” said Gloria Bergquist, the vice president for public affairs at the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers in Washington, adding that carmakers are trying to keep consumers connected without them having to use their hand-held phones while driving.

“It is a connected society, and people want to be connected in their car just as they are in their home or wherever they may be,” she said.

In April, the federal government recommended that automakers voluntarily limit the technology in their cars to keep drivers focused. The federal agency that made the recommendation, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said it would review the latest research .

What makes the use of these speech-to-text systems so risky is that they create a significant cognitive distraction, the researchers found. The brain is so taxed interacting with the system that, even with hands on the wheel and eyes on the road, the driver’s reaction time and ability to process what is happening on the road are impaired.

The research was led by David Strayer, a neuroscientist at the University of Utah who for two decades has applied the principles of attention science to driver behavior. His research has showed, for example, that talking on a phone while driving creates the same level of crash risk as someone with a 0.08 blood-alcohol level, the legal level for intoxication across the country.

In this latest study, he and a team of researchers compared the impact on drivers of different activities, including listening to a book on tape or the radio, and talking on a hand-held phone or hands-free phone.

The researchers compared how the subjects performed when they were not driving with two other conditions: when using a driver simulator and in a car equipped with tools aimed at measuring how well they drove. The researchers used eye-scanning technology to see where driver attention was focused and also measured the electrical activity in the brain.

Mr. Strayer said the results were consistent across all the tests in finding that speech-to-text technology caused a higher level of cognitive distraction than any of the other activities. The research showed, for instance, that the person interacting with speech to text was less likely than in other activities to scan a crosswalk for pedestrians. And that driver showed lowered activity in networks of the brain associated with driving, indicating that those networks were impaired by the interaction with the technology.

Mr. Strayer said that the reason for the heavy load created by the technology was not totally clear. One reason appears to be the amount of effort required to talk to the dashboard, which is greater than talking to a person, who can interrupt and ask for clarification.

With a passenger or even on a phone, the other person says “wait, wait, I didn’t understand,” Mr. Strayer said. “That stuff is gone when you’re trying to compose an e-mail. You have to get your thought in order and lay it out in order.”

Mr. Strayer said the research should give automakers pause. “Look at new cars; they’re enabling sending e-mails, sending text, tweeting, updating Facebook, making movie or dinner reservations with voice commands,” he said. “The assumption is if you’re doing those things with speech-based technology, they’ll be safe. But they’re not.”

But the automakers are not likely to slow down development of the technology unless the law forbids it, said Ronald Montoya, consumer advice editor for Edmunds.com, a research firm.

“They’re not going to pause based on this research,” he said.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: June 14, 2013

An article on Thursday about a new study showing that voice-activated systems in cars pose a risk of driver distraction misstated part of the name of the AAA unit that released the study. It is the Foundation for Traffic Safety, not the Foundation for Highway Safety.

Noted: On a Phone App Called Tinder, Looks Are Everything

Rather, the action is happening on a new smartphone app, and no, it isn’t Grindr.

“Anytime I’m at a dinner or an event, social or business, people are buzzing about Tinder,” said Erica Berman, 28, an events planner in Manhattan who said that she uses the app several times a day.

Ms. Berman is not alone. Technology has hit a new level of shallow, and New York’s 20-somethings are embracing it full speed.

Introduced to college campuses in September, Tinder taps into the most superficial aspect of the dating scene. After downloading the app and selecting their gender, location and whether they like men or women (or both), users swipe through a stack of profile photos (left for “nope,” right for “liked”), based on little more than the person’s appearance. If two users “like” each other, they can proceed to have an online conversation.

Tinder has been compared to Hot or Not, the once-popular photo rating site, as reimagined in the age of Facebook. Indeed, the app is linked to a user’s Facebook account, automatically pulling in a person’s profile, photographs and mutual friends.

“You don’t have to fill out a profile, you don’t have to put in info — you just have to like the way someone looks,” said Anne Ryan, a 23-year-old project manager in the West Village, who was introduced to Tinder over brunch. “Besides, if I don’t think someone is hot, or if they don’t think I’m pretty, no one ever finds out.”

Unusual for a dating app, Tinder appeals to men and women, homosexuals and heterosexuals. That was by design.

“Irrespective of preference, Tinder solves a basic human need, which is to meet and connect with new people,” said Sean Rad, 26, who started Tinder with Justin Mateen, also 26. “In the real world, you see someone’s face and you decide if you have an attraction to them.”

In the seven months since Tinder was released to iPhone users, the app has logged 2.4 billion profile ratings and 21 million matches, said Mr. Mateen, a high-tech entrepreneur who lives in Los Angeles.

To those who criticize the app for prizing looks over compatibility, Mr. Mateen noted that “approximately 70 percent of those matches have resulted in a two-way conversation.” Moreover, he said, the company has received six videos of couples who met on Tinder and are now engaged.

Jesse Morris, 25, a handsome marketing executive in Murray Hill, said that he won’t be getting engaged anytime soon, but he uses Tinder to cast a wider net. “Bars don’t attract everyone, and when you’re in a bar, all the best-looking girls are under a magnifying glass from every guy,” he said. “Because Tinder requires its users to independently indicate interest, you don’t need to work through that competition and clutter.”

Mr. Rad and Mr. Mateen would agree. They aren’t just the founders of Tinder, they are users, too.

“Justin met the girl he is dating pretty seriously right now on Tinder,” Mr. Rad said about his co-founder. “He is embarrassed to say the serious part.”

Why isn’t Taylor Swift called out for being a hoe?

Why isn't Taylor Swift called out for being a hoe?

The 22-year-old singer reportedly broke things off with her boyfriend of three months, Conor Kennedy, 18.

The perpetually heartbroken singer has an impressively long list of short romances with half of Hollywood. While Swift's relationships don't last long she completely invests herself in them, and admittedly falls in love far too easily:

"The way I look at love is you have to follow it, and fall hard, if you fall hard. You have to forget about what everyone else thinks," she recently told Rolling Stone. "It has to be an us-against-the-world mentality. You have to make it work by prioritizing it, and by falling in love really fast, without thinking too hard. If I think too hard about a relationship I'll talk myself out of it. …I have rules for a lot of areas of my life. Love is not going to be one of them."

If you were ever wondering why Swift is never short on inspiration for hit songs, look no further than the definitive guide to her past confirmed and rumored romances:

The Definitive Guide To Taylor Swift's Exes

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Lindsay Lohan and Dina in Huge Domestic Fight — 911 Called

Lindsay Lohan, Dina
HUGE FIGHT
911 CALLED
7:08 AM PDT  Sources close to Lindsay tell TMZ ... Dina was "wasted" at the nightclub.  We're told the fight started when Lindsay wanted to take her limo to her NYC hotel, but Dina wanted to take it to her home in Long Island, to avoid paying for a taxi.  Somehow Dina prevailed, over the intense protests of her daughter.   We're told Dina scratched Lindsay's leg in the process.

6:26 AM PDT -- Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... cops took a Domestic Incident Report but no arrests were made.

6:11AM PDT --  We're told the 911 call was a domestic violence call.  Sources say in one of the 911 calls to cops ... the caller said Lindsay was being held against her will by Dina and the driver.


Lindsay Lohan and mama Dina were in a blowout, violent fight early this morning, that ended in a 911 call with cops rushing to the scene ... TMZ has learned.

It started last night when the duo went to a nightclub in New York City.  Our photog says they left the club at around 4 AM and headed back to Dina's home in Long Island.

Lindsay and Dina started arguing in the car and it escalated when they got home.  We're told it became physical with Lindsay sustaining a cut on her leg.  We're also told there was property damage -- including a broken bracelet of Lindsay's -- that occurred during the scuffle.

Cops are still on scene. 

The pic below (Lindsay with a random clubgoer) was taken before the fight started ... at Electric Room, the nightclub inside the Dream Downtown -- the hotel where Lindsay allegedly hit a dude while pulling into the garage.