{"id":10614,"date":"2017-12-01T06:02:20","date_gmt":"2017-12-01T06:02:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=10614"},"modified":"2017-12-02T06:06:38","modified_gmt":"2017-12-02T06:06:38","slug":"why-silicon-valley-wants-you-to-text-and-drive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/why-silicon-valley-wants-you-to-text-and-drive\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Silicon Valley wants you to text and drive"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jack Barkenbus<\/a>, Vanderbilt University<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

As self-driving cars come closer to being common on American roads, much of the rhetoric promoting them has to do with safety. About 40,000 people die<\/a> on U.S. roads every year, and driver errors are linked to more than 90 percent of crashes<\/a>. But many of the biggest advocates of autonomous vehicles aren\u2019t car companies looking to improve the safety of their existing products. Huge backing for self-driving technologies is coming from Silicon Valley giants like Google<\/a> and Apple<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Those of us who have studied the relationship between technology and society tend to look more carefully at the motivations behind any technological push. In this case, it\u2019s clear that in addition to addressing safety concerns, Silicon Valley firms have a strong incentive to create a new venue for increasing the use of their digital devices. Every minute people spend on their mobile phones provides data \u2013 and often money \u2013 to tech companies.<\/p>\n

At present, digital devices and driving are in conflict: There are serious, often fatal, consequences when drivers use smartphones to talk or to text<\/a>. Regulators and safety advocates look to resolve that conflict by banning phone use while driving \u2013 as has happened in virtually every state<\/a>. But the tech companies are taking a different approach. The obvious answer for Silicon Valley is creating an automobile in which continuous cellphone use no longer poses a threat to anyone.<\/p>\n

Not a new idea<\/h2>\n

The idea of a car so capable a driver is not needed isn\u2019t new. As far back as the 1950s, the Saturday Evening Post ran an illustration imagining a family playing a board game (in a convertible!) as the car conducts itself down the road. When self-driving cars actually take to the streets in large numbers, today\u2019s families likely won\u2019t be playing Scrabble \u2013 though Words With Friends and other mobile games are a near certainty. Every passenger is likely to be using a mobile device.<\/p>\n

\n \"\"<\/a>
\n A self-driving car depicted in the 1950s.<\/span>
\n Saturday Evening Post<\/span><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In recent years, the amount of time adults spend on their mobile devices (beyond actual phone calls) has grown rapidly. At the moment, it\u2019s around four hours a day<\/a> for the average adult in the U.S. However, that rapid growth is likely to slow down as people run out of time that\u2019s available for them to use their devices.<\/p>\n

Unless, of course, there\u2019s a new block of time that suddenly opens up. The average American now spends about 48 minutes in a car every day<\/a>, a sizable opportunity for increased cellphone use.<\/p>\n

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