Music is something people want. It can help people concentrate and stay alert.
Cup holders allow you to have a good place to put your drink without being distracted. They help you keep attention on the road by not spilling your coffee on your lap.
Ads don't help anybody with staying alert or doing any other tasks in the car. They're meant to capture your attention for selling you something.
If ads jolt the driver awake because they're so jarring, doesn't that help with the staying alert thing? Though if the ads cause the driver to go into fits of rage, that's probably negative on the car being driven safely, though that would again help them with the being alert thing.
If driver alertness is the key factor, cars should have inward facing cameras that can detect the drivers eyes so it can play a horrible noise when the driver starts micro-napping. Or ads for nearby hotels. I think Teslas already have such a camera. New revenue stream!
>If driver alertness is the key factor, cars should have inward facing cameras that can detect the drivers eyes so it can play a horrible noise when the driver starts micro-napping.
This exists already [1] and is in pretty much every new car in the EU at least.
In principle eating and drinking is a major safety concern, a choking driver is not able to behave as per the minimum standard. And yes, radio can grab your attention, so it's fine in light traffic, maybe less in awkward situations. I guess racers don't listen to music when they race, but they drink for other reasons. Dunno.
One could argue that the whole point of ads is to draw your attention and put things into your memory, which is not necessarily the case for those other things. Some radio programs probably are meant to draw attention, but you could notice this and switch away, which brings us to...
> Where does the line get drawn?
Ideally by the person who knows most intimately how badly you're being distracted, i.e. you. (Until they get the ability to scan your brain.)
Self reporting of distraction doesn’t seem to work so good, as evidenced by the number of people texting, scrolling social, or whatever else on their phone, while driving.
Before phone, we still saw men shaving and women putting on their makeup.
I have 0 faith in people to self regulate and avoid distractions while driving. At least at a population level.
I'd argue the line gets drawn when the driver is barred from stopping the distracting element themselves. Everything else can be stopped, disabled,refused, or removed by the driver. If an element is designed to be another source for focus (the entire infotainment system is this) it must be able to be turned off by the driver. In theory simply disabling the infotainment system should cover this, but now you have to argue if removing things like modern navigation is an acceptable option, and frankly, these ads only serve to line pockets. This isn't a radio situation where the feed is free, the car is (in theory) already paid for. (and don't try to argue that the car is cheaper because of the ads. TV manufacturers already turned that argument into swiss cheese when they stopped bothering to sell TVs without preloaded ads.)
Where does the line get drawn?