- Car dashboards now use large touchscreens instead of buttons.
- Drivers must look at the screen to find controls.
- Researchers tested people while they drove in a simulator.
- People did a memory test while driving and using the screen.
- Multitasking made driving and touchscreen tasks worse.
- Drivers drifted more and lost lane position often.
- Touchscreen actions became slower and less accurate.
- Making touch targets bigger did not improve performance.
- Simple sensors could watch attention and help drivers.
Difficult words
- touchscreen — a screen you touch to control thingstouchscreens
- dashboard — the front car panel with instruments and controlsdashboards
- simulator — a machine or computer that copies real driving
- multitasking — doing two or more tasks at the same time
- sensor — a device that notices movement or other datasensors
- attention — the act of watching or thinking about something
- drift — to move slowly out of the lanedrifted
Tip: hover, focus or tap highlighted words in the article to see quick definitions while you read or listen.
Discussion questions
- Do you like car touchscreens?
- Have you ever used a driving simulator?
- Is it hard for you to look at a screen while driving?
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