Who woulda thunk it? Apparently, there’s some rhyme to the reason behind the recent outlawing of typing SMS text messages while driving. Nuance, makers of speech recognition technology for mobile phones held a contest in Florida to see just how dangerous a distracted, SMS texting driver was, compared to a driver using Nuance’s speech recognition technology.
Turns out, drivers tasked with sending a short SMS text message, looking up a local business, and playing an MP3 file – tasks typically associated with “driving while mobile” – repeatedly crashed. Those drivers using Nuance software-equipped mobile phones were able to carry out the tasks with nary a crash.
As obvious as the results might seem, props to Nuance for leveraging the recent bad press over mobile-distracted drivers to push their speech recognition tech – they’re not the only game in the speech recognition-town, but they’re good at getting their stuff out in the ether. Hit the vid below to see just how badly these people drive.