Rockefeller Warns Automakers, Suppliers To Cut Risk Of In-car Mobile Technology

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, WV, warned automakers and technology executives that he'll propose regulating in-car use of mobile phones to Internet-connected entertainment systems unless they do more to reduce driver distractions. The influential U.S. Senator told officials of companies including General Motors, Toyota Motor Corp., Google Inc., Samsung Electronics Co., AT&T Inc., and Apple Inc. to move faster on implementing standards for in-car technology use.

Rockefeller, who is not seeking re-election this year after five terms in the Senate, convened an unusual all-day forum in Washington on February 6 to discuss the topic. "Why is it so important for kids to drive around and update their Facebook statuses?" Rockefeller said. "For teenagers, it's a way of being cool. For those of you who sell cars, it's a way of you being cool and making a lot of money from that. How many people have died? How many people have almost died?"

Automakers have promoted voice-based messaging as a safer alternative to taking hands off the steering wheel to place a call and talk on a handheld phone. About nine million infotainment systems will be shipped this year in cars sold worldwide, with that number projected to rise to more than 62 million by 2018, according to a report by London-based ABI Research.

While maps, music, and news features can make driving better, too much focus has been applied on providing drivers with the features and connectivity they get on smartphones, Rockefeller said. "I'm very unhappy," the 76-year-old lawmaker said. "I'm very nervous, not just about deaths but about close-to-death injuries. All for the sake of outdoing each other and making more money."

General Motors, the largest U.S. automaker, has had driving-distraction guidelines for more than fifteen years, since introducing its OnStar system, said the company's Vice President of Sustainability and Global Regulatory Affairs Michael Robinson, asserting that in-car communications and mobile phones are providing an enormous safety benefit through automatic crash notifications and fast calls to 911. "The connectivity you're worried about for social media is the very same that enables us to save thousands of lives every year," Robinson said.

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