At the Auto Show in Detroit the past two weeks, aficionados witnessed high-mileage electric cars (sportier than the earnest hybrid), next-generation electronic propulsion systems and a frightening array of “connected cars” that allow drivers to get even more distracted via dashboard infotainment. That's the car industry's vision of the future – equal parts social conscience, residual Motor City muscle and Twitter. But what if designers paid a little less attention to trends and toys and instead found inspiration in the lessons of modern neuroscience? Charles Spence is a psychology professor at Oxford University who's made it his mission to smarten up smart cars by exploiting the latest in brain research. Here are some of the innovations he's suggested:
1. The talking windshield
Our brains prefer to concentrate on one thing in one place. But most car design distracts phone-addicted drivers by dividing their attention between the road and the voice on the phone: Sound comes from the side while you're looking ahead. Not surprisingly, these drivers are four times more like to have an accident, even using hands-free technology.
Prof. Spence and his team have proposed that transparent speakers be positioned on the windshield so sound comes from directly in front, enabling dual-taskers to watch the road and listen more efficiently at the same time.
2. Honking at yourself
A smart car knows when you're tired or driving aggressively and could be designed, like a plane, to override human controls. But car makers prefer to leave decision making in the fallible driver's hands. So what's the best way to issue warnings – a throbbing red light on the dashboard?
Prof. Spence prefers auditory warning signals, particularly those that register in the space where the threat is greatest. Technology can now project sound so that it appears to come from the space between you and the car you're about to rear-end. But you also want a signal that's intuitive: A car-horn sound, automatically equated with danger, evokes an instant response faster than a dashboard light.
3. Smart vibrations
By 2020, all cars will likely have some kind of tactile vibrating technology – to counteract driver distraction, wake you as you're dozing off or alert you to unseen danger, such as the car in your blind spot.
These vibrating signals could come from the seat, or the seatbelt, and can be combined with sound signals for an even more effective warning – improving braking speed by 6/10 of a second, enough to reduce over half of rear-end collisions.
4. Headrest warnings
When adding safety features, car designers intuitively look to the area in front of the driver. But neuroscientists believe we don't pay enough attention to the highly sensitive space just behind our head. Special circuits in the brain respond quickly to threats that come from behind: As an area vulnerable to a disabling attack, it likely required a heightened level of evolutionary vigilance, which is why even anesthetized subjects react defensively when approached in this area. In car design, this means stimulus from the headrest area will quicken a response, making you redirect a distracted gaze from the CD player back to the road ahead.
5. Auto aromatherapy
If the car's systems think you're driving aggressively or dangerously, they will release essential oils such as lavender to calm you down; or if you show signs of fatigue, citrus oil or peppermint to make you more attentive.
Since we know that road rage and a grim driving environment go together, releasing a pleasant fragrance could have a calming effect, while also increasing focus.
6. Subliminal security
Studies have shown that many drivers like risk, and will adjust their driving to maintain some danger even as safety innovations are introduced.
Prof. Spence believes safety features that can tap into the automatic circuits of the brain may be harder to manipulate: A subliminal message – of a car crash or a scary face – projected below the threshold of awareness activates the brain's fear circuits and in theory could lead to safer driving.
But this project is still stuck at the laboratory stage since real-world driving is too overstimulated for crafty subliminal messages to compete.
7. Stress for safety
By making the driver's space more compressed and confining, you can increase his stress level and get him to drive more safely – relaxation, it turns out, is its own form of distraction.
This is a milder version of the proposal noted by Prof. Spence that the best feature for avoiding accidents may be a spear embedded in the steering wheel, with the point directed toward the driver.
But take no notice, Detroit – that's just neuroscience black humour.
