I find this to be interesting.

I do see the position of the DfT, but I have to wonder: pilots deal with large amounts of information coming at them while controlling an airplane. Fighter pilots deal with even more (status of the plane, position of wingmen/women, navigation, threats to the plane, targeting information, etc). Obviously they have to receive many hours of training before they would be allowed to pilot a plane, but my point is that it is possible to operate a vehicle (plane, tank, battleship, car, etc) while processing more than just the information of the road (or the aviation and naval equivalents).

I do think that HUDs in cars are less distracting than the traditional gauge cluster (you do not have to take your eyes off the road). I wonder if it would be possible to provide a special license class for operators who wanted to use HUDs or augment reality, with appropriate training and testing.

For example, imagine being lost and instead of having to look at your GPS, an image is presented within your field of vision (without obstructing the view of the road) that provides you with directions to your destination. I think that would be fantastic.

The vast majority of car drivers are incompetent even without distraction.

There's probably about 30 or so 'Super Licenced' drivers on the planet who might just about handle a HUD were they to have one....

agreed. but that can be done with icons, sound and generally less distracting ways to communicate information.

i don't like the idea of having people driving while checking the latest posts on Facebook or Wincustomize though. that information would be a lot more distracting. not necessarily the content (we listen to the radio already), but the way it is presented: (tiny) text to read.

They are more skilled, Jafo's correct e driving skills. But even then, the pilots' roads are a bit less crowded and there's a division of labor with 4-6 eyes watching things.

Even better if done while parked at the side of the road.

Oh absolutely. There should be a driving mode that senses if the user is moving faster than, I dunno, 25 miles an hour (what is that in kph, Jafo? ), beyond which only information deemed necessary for driving (speed, direction, exits, safety info-eg traffic accident three miles ahead, exercise caution, low tire pressure warning, etc) will be displayed in easy to understand pictogram form.

With proper training, I do believe it is possible to do this safely. I know this is anecdotal on my part, but I have seen so many people who drive who fumble around looking for the cell phone, trying to insert a cd into the radio, trying to update their destination on their GPS unit, etc. HUDs and the ability for cars to understand and execute verbal commands would make driving a safer experience, I think.

Faraday cages should be part of default auto bodies. 

Training is meaningless. Multitasking is MUCH less efficient than "One thing at a time." That's because the brain is built to handle one thing at a time.

The HUD's, etc. all distract and one has to refocus from the road to the HUD then back again. That time (x velocity) = distance travelled NOT paying attention to the road, other cars, etc.

I think there was a scientific study in the last few years that proved that so called multi-tasking was actually the human brain switching between tasks rapidly, rather than actually doing multiple things at the same time. So when you're checking your emails you aren't paying attention to the road.

As for allowing access to more features at low speeds, you can still kill someone at 10mph or less. In fact if you are going at low speeds then you are probably in a built up area or on winding country lanes, where you arguably need more awareness of your surroundings as pedestrians, animals etc are more likely.

So I definitely think banning Google Glass on the roads is a very good idea. Now if only we could do something about the people who walk around using their phones and only avoiding crashing into other pedestrians because the people actually looking where they are going take avoiding action.

permanent GPS checking would probably drain the battery pretty fast, so i don't really think that is an option. there sure can be an optional car mode, similar to the flight mode for mobile devices. will that work? well, i most often turn on the flight mode for the iPad and then forget about the phone. (luckily nobody ever has heard about a plane crash due to a mobile phone, so the whole thing might be fud anyways)

Google Glass is an amazing technology, i'm just not sure whether it will be widely adopted. right now the thing is plain ugly and at least i wouldn't wear it. i have to wear glasses anyways, but i sure like the choice an optician has to offer. the choice among phones for example is much, much smaller. i think it's just the slow news season right now. let's hope the police wont start checking glasses from now on, that would be pretty annoying.

Google Glass is the stupidest thing I have ever seen in my lifetime. Human beings in general are so stupid nowadays, especially with today's education system, that any distraction at all could end up getting someone killed, including ones self.

well.. obviously they expect you to be sitting in one of them google cars and not actually doing the driving.

Was the education system even good to being with pray tell? 

Was our decline more or so just us being static and the world catching up or did we really fall in quality? Because I am seeing the former.

I also dislike the idea of having google glass while driving simply because it is distracting like you guys already said if it would benefit us we could simply make windows that display the same thing we have the tech already but it would cost more than those cheap glasses from google.
But i hardly doubt that google glasses would be more dangerous than typing on your cell phone while driving since your focus is not on the road , how can it if you have a touch device and it requires input opening of an app dialling a cell number if you don’t have voice control activated.
I think a phone is by far more dangerous and therefore i cant hate on the idea of Gglass.
What iam saying is that having goggles/glasses that are fully voice controlled  and display info directly in an area not in the focus is by far more relaxing + safer ---than having a phone that is somewhere on the passenger side seat (or navigation system),  1-3 second where no one pays attention to the road and looks for the phone and potentially some more seconds to get the desired app running- even though it is illegal to use your phone without a hands-free system i know plenty that still do use them.
And even if you have the hands free system and you’re having a phone call you’re not paying attention at least not to a full amount you should.
Don’t believe me ? Even Mythbusters tested it and Folks were total distracted
Driving isn’t that easy I know in the US making a license isn’t as complicated as here but you also have different speed limits than we do here
We don’t have these limits here- if my car would have enough "ponys" to run 300km/h or more nobody will stop me for driving that fast in an open speed limit area of the highway. 

Imagine going 240km/h or 150mph (+-) what is not that fast but if you’re on the highway and you don’t pay attention for only 3 seconds it adds up
here is a little math: 1 Kilometer per hour is 0,277777778 meters per second
0,277777778 x 240 = 66,66666672 meters per second looking for your phone that takes 3 second to find
3 x  66,66666672meters/second = 200 meters in 3 seconds + some Millimeters
1 meter = 3,2808399ft
200 x 3,2808399 = 656,16798ft thats almost two football fields looking for a phone ( thinking this would be better than having glasses and watching the street – silly ! )

OK you passed almost two football fields in these three seconds looking for your phone and now there is an obstacle in front of you approximately 150 meters/ 490ft ahead and you pump the break or break foot down ( even better emergency breaking is good for mother nature )

speed : 240km/h / 150mph
the reaction distance : 72meters/s  or 236ft/s
breaking distance on Emergency break : 288m or 944ft
distance until full stop: 360m or 1181ft remember the obstacle was 490ft ahead !

 It doesn’t matter how good of a driver you are if this happens and you have no option to turn left or right or pass the obstacle you certainly up for a bad day.

That is why I think the idea of glass isn’t as bad as the current smartphone generation we have going that is if it would be fully voice controlled and would replace the phone. 

I personally was talking more about HUDs and voice command, not so much speaking about Google glasses.

A certain level of maturity and training/experience would be needed before HUD data displays are commonplace, but I do think it is safer than taking your eyes off the road (changing the radio station, adjusting the climate control, checking what gear you are in, etc).

At one time, a certain segment of the population fought against having radios in cars because it was thought to be a distraction as well. .

you guys are aware that HUDs in cars are a reality since quite a while and nobody requires any "special training" to use them?

http://www.bmw.com/com/en/insights/technology/technology_guide/articles/head_up_display.html

Exactly . I didn't know they had gotten that sophisticated. I hope they add more information that can be accessed and processed by the human mind in a safe and efficient way.

Back when I was in grad school, I remember one of my class mates who was so proud of his Pontiac Grand Prix that displayed the speed on a HUD .