Recently, there have been many programs and apps to monitor teens driving. The new 2016 Chevy Malibu has teen training and monitoring technology. Hyundai Blue Link Vehicle Safeguards Alerts In-Vehicle App allows parents to monitor and set limits on their Hyundai’s speed, hours of operation and movements via text message, e-mail or both. Telematics introduced Sentinel for cars that detects and reports cellphone use while driving. It was created to help parents of younger drivers to enforce safe driving behavior. A new study shows that parents want even more control over teen drivers.
A survey conducted by the College of Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University reveals that parents want connected car controls. The top ranked controls wanted:
- Control to set speed limit, curfew time and number of passengers (84%).
- Control feature to limit the geographic range the car will travel (61%) With 18- to 24-year olds, only 54% of them opted for this feature, whereas almost 65% of drivers aged 36 to 45 would constrain a car’s geographic range.
- Parent text display to communicate with driver (60%).
The one area where 18- to 24-year olds outscored all other age groups was in their receptiveness to having a parental text display in the car. Surprisingly, 69% of the youngest respondents thought this was useful while only 53% of people aged 56 to 65 would consider this option. Women (63%) tended to be more receptive than men (57%) to this communication feature.
The college polled 1,000 people to gain insight into what consumers are looking for in self-driving cars.
Until the features to control teens are available in all cars there is a new online training program TeachYourTeenDriving.com. Launched by The Driving Company the site aims to provide a wealth of information for parents of teen drivers for a $127 registration fee.
Dave Storton, the instructional designer for the program, developed the Teach Your Teen Driving program after teaching his own teens how to drive. .Storton created an easy-to-follow online course that provides parents with the information they need.
The Teach Your Teen Driving program includes more than 25 short training videos, learning activities, evaluation forms, tracking forms, and checklists. The professional instructors at The Driving Company are available to parents who need additional advice or guidance as they progress through the program.
Connected car technology does not keep parents or teens from wanting to own cars. Continental’s recent study found that U.S. consumers, even teens still want to own cars.