More than nine in 10 New Zealand drivers whose vehicles have touchscreens say they have been distracted using them, according to a survey that raises questions about whether screen-heavy car interiors are competing with the road for drivers’ attention.
A poll by fleet safety company AutoSense found 93% of respondents had experienced touchscreen distraction. Almost one in four, or 22.9%, said it happened frequently, and close to half, or 48.5%, said it happened occasionally.
Asked which vehicle controls were easiest to use while driving, 49% chose physical knobs and buttons. Only 6% picked touchscreens, a preference of more than eight to one. A further one in five preferred a mix of both.
The poll of 476 New Zealanders also found almost 61% identified at least one screen, device or vehicle interface as something that commonly pulls their attention from the road. The list ranged from adjusting controls and checking navigation to work alerts and hands-free calls.
AutoSense chief executive Charles Dawson says the results expose a growing tension in modern vehicle design. Screens put more functions at a driver’s fingertips, but they can demand more of their eyes.
“A knob or button gives you tactile feedback. Once you know where it is, you can often make an adjustment without taking your eyes off the road,” Dawson says.
“With a touchscreen, you may need to find the right menu, see where your finger is landing and check the vehicle has responded. None of those glances may feel particularly dangerous on its own, but they add up.”
International standards are starting to recognise the issue. Euro NCAP’s 2026 protocols assess the placement, clarity and ease of use of essential controls, including whether physical buttons are provided for commonly used functions.
Dawson says commercial drivers face the same challenge, often juggling navigation, dispatch systems, work tablets and incoming job alerts.
“Distraction doesn’t always look like somebody scrolling on their phone. It can be repeated, very short glances between the road and a screen, navigation prompt or work alert,” he says.
“The driver may never look away long enough to recognise it as a major distraction, but their attention is still being divided. It comes back to attention on task – or off task. If it is diverted elsewhere in the cabin, it is not fully on driving. There is no such thing as a ‘good’ distraction.”
The pattern of repeated short glances away from the road is known as attention sharing, and it can be hard to detect. AutoSense says Guardian Generation 3, developed by Seeing Machines, uses camera-based gaze tracking to establish where a driver is looking, rather than relying largely on head position.
The system sounds an in-cab alert when a driver looks away from the road for a cumulative 10 seconds within a rolling 30-second period. If the driver’s gaze returns to the road for more than two seconds, the timer resets.
Attention sharing events are recorded and can be reviewed by the driver’s company. AutoSense says the technology comes from the team behind gaze-tracking systems used to measure pilot attention in aviation.
Dawson says accuracy matters because drivers can quickly lose faith in warnings that do not match what is happening. “An alert has to mean something. If it accurately identifies that your attention has moved away from driving, it gives you the opportunity to correct it before the situation escalates,” he says.
AutoSense says the technology is also showing New Zealand fleets when their own processes are contributing to distraction. Some operators have changed when and how they send dispatch messages and new job notifications after data showed these were repeatedly drawing drivers’ eyes from the road.
“It isn’t always a case of blaming the driver. If the way work is being delivered is repeatedly pulling a driver’s eyes from the road, the operator has an opportunity and a responsibility to redesign that process,” Dawson says.
He says the findings should matter to motorists, vehicle manufacturers, fleet operators and insurers alike. “Technology can improve safety, but only when it is designed around how people actually drive. Whether it’s the controls built into a car or the systems an employer asks a driver to use, keeping eyes on the road has to come first.”
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