Using Google Glass to text while driving is clearly a distraction, a new study has found.
While Google Glass gives people behind the wheel the option of using head movements and voice commands to respond to text messages, texting with the technology still causes distracted driving, researchers have found.
The study by the University of Central Florida is the first scientific look at using Google Glass to text while driving.
Researchers also found that texting Glass users outperformed smartphone users when regaining control of their vehicles after a traffic incident.
"Texting with either a smartphone or Glass will cause distraction and should be avoided while driving," said UCF researcher Ben Sawyer.
"Glass did help drivers in our study recover more quickly than those texting on a smartphone. We hope that Glass points the way to technology that can help deliver information with minimal risk," he said.
"As distractive influences threaten to become more common and numerous in drivers' lives, we find the limited benefits provided by Glass a hopeful sign of technological solutions to come," Sawyer added.
Sawyer and his team set up the experiment with 40 twentysomethings. Each drove in a car simulator with either Glass or a smartphone and was forced to react to a vehicle ahead slamming on its brakes.
Researchers compared text-messaging participants' reactions on each device to times when they were just driving without multitasking.
Those using Glass were no better at hitting their brakes in time, but after their close call returned to driving normally more quickly.
"While Glass-using drivers demonstrated some areas of improved performance in recovering from the brake event, the device did not improve their response to the event itself," Sawyer said.
"More importantly, for every measure we recorded, messaging with either device negatively impacted driving performance.
"Compared to those just driving, multitaskers reacted more slowly, preserved less headway during the brake event, and subsequently adopted greater following distances," he said.
The study will appear in the journal Human Factors.
