Office catchups at 70mph: the latest threat to road safety?

It already feels like we’re all slowly being bludgeoned by the ever-expanding reach of remote meetings. But now it’s gone one step further: Mercedes has announced it’s bringing Microsoft Teams video calls into the driver’s seat.

Yes, in their upcoming CLA model, you’ll be able to appear on video mid-drive - because nothing says “road safety” like live-streaming your face while piloting two tonnes of steel through city streets. You won’t be able to see shared screens or slides (small mercies), but you can beam your image into the boardroom, dashboard glow lighting your cheekbones just-so as you pass the local school at drop off.

For those of us who cycle on UK roads, this feels like yet another entry in an ever-lengthening list of unessecary perils: potholes large enough to swallow a Brompton, rainbow-slick diesel spills, TikTok-scrolling motorists, and now… drivers broadcasting themselves into corporate catchups, all while adjusting the heated seats.

Bigger screens, smaller attention spans

The Mercedes/Teams tie-in is just the latest in a long-running trend: the creeping colonisation of the dashboard.

Once a place for simple, tactile controls, the modern car cockpit is now a temple of touchscreens. Tesla’s Model 3 famously features a 15-inch central display - a screen larger than most people’s laptops. Cadillac's Celestiq, meanwhile, boasts a 55-inch panoramic dash. That’s not a dashboard. That’s a cinema.

But these displays aren’t just for show. Increasingly, core functions like air-con, indicators and wipers are buried in digital menus, with the driver expected to tap, swipe or scroll at motorway speeds. Why? Because touchscreens are cheaper to manufacture and update than good old-fashioned buttons.

A flicker of common sense?

Thankfully, Euro NCAP - the European body that assesses car safety - has finally raised an eyebrow at this dashboard arms race. From next year, if carmakers want that coveted five-star rating, they’ll need to reintroduce physical controls for basic functions like turn signals and windscreen wipers.

It’s a step in the right direction, but it doesn’t tackle the broader problem: cars are being designed as rolling entertainment (and now work) hubs, rather than vehicles to safely move people through public space. And while automation is pitched as the future fix, we’re still firmly in the era of very-human drivers being asked to multitask their way through increasingly chaotic cabins.

For us cyclists, this isn’t just a philosophical issue. It’s personal. We’re the ones on the sharp end of inattention. We feel it every time a driver drifts too close while fiddling with a satnav, or brakes late while juggling Spotify. And now, potentially, we’ll have to wonder whether they’re also nodding along in a Monday morning check-in while navigating a mini-roundabout.

As one user on Bluesky quipped: "I'm afraid Ted won’t be joining us for the second half of the meeting - he seems to have veered into oncoming traffic. But luckily I have his PowerPoint notes."

While you’re here…

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