When we talk about cars and connectivity, we tend to group all the different technologies involved together and view them as a generally good thing. This is understandable. No-one would argue about the benefits that telematics or live traffic sat nav can bring to fleets.
However, a recent piece of news that crossed my desk made me wonder if we should be spending more time deciding which connectivity technologies are desirable for fleets and which should be viewed with more scepticism or even controlled through law.
The story was about a major motor manufacturer fitting Skype to their cars. Immediately, this made me uneasy. The dangers of phone use on the move are already well known and the potential further distractions of teleconferencing can only multiply those issues. Even if the video element is disabled, do you really want to provide your drivers with the means to take part in long and complex Skype calls behind the wheel?
Similarly, other manufacturers are soon to add the latest generation of voice assistant technology to their vehicles, such as Amazon’s Echo. Again, this appears to present considerable problems. While you can see advantages in being able to talk to your car to, for example, change the heating settings without taking your hands off the wheel, it is unlikely that drivers will stop there. It is easy to envisage motorists on the motorway constantly interrogating “Alexa” for everything from the latest cricket score to ordering a takeaway pizza to be delivered at home later. The potential for loss of concentration is obvious.
The fact that these features are making their way onto cars without debate about the duty of care and general safety aspects involved is troubling. It is perhaps an area where legislation lags behind technology, in the same way as the early days of mobile phones, when large numbers of accidents resulted from people taking calls on the move.
Of course, it will always be possible to make it part of your handbook that employees should not use any of these facilities while driving. However, the fact is that where fitted, these technologies present a genuine temptation and some people will always use them.