Tesla's touchscreen web browser, on the dashboard

Tesla Motors is the only company in North America and Europe producing highway-legal electric vehicles.  But, the vehicles may be illegal in a different way.

Tesla vehicles have in-dash touchscreens that allow the driver and passengers to browse the web.  In a study taken last month, it was found that 54% of web traffic was to news websites.  Service websites, such as restaurants, shopping, and travel websites, accounted for 15% of web usage in Tesla vehicles.  

The study only took data from a handful of states in the U.S., with California accounted for 66% of web usage.  Interestingly, out of the eight states documented, seven of them have laws prohibiting TV or video screens within sight of the driver.  Georgia is the only state that has no such law. 

So why are these touchscreens considered legal?  The Tesla browser is not capable of playing online videos, so it does not technically correspond with a “video screen”.  But, shouldn’t actively browsing the web be more distracting than having a video playing?  On the Tesla forum, some users have actually admitted to the touchscreen being distracting.  We should expect more restrictions on dashboard screens in the future.

Regardless of the dangers involved, Tesla’s in-dash web browser is revolutionary.  It is not hard to believe that in the coming years these touchscreens will become the norm in car companies across the board.

http://mashable.com/2014/04/02/tesla-drivers-touchscreens/