Are car dashboards that act like smartphones safe?

DANGEROUS?: The car dashboard screen where drivers can upload photos and read text messages may be too distracting on the road.

In an Audi A3, for example, drivers who sync their phones with their cars can check for mentions of themselves on Twitter and see those tweets on their dashboards – although not their full Twitter streams. They can upload photos taken on smart phones and request mapping to the place the photo was taken. Text messages pop up on the dashboard, in addition to being read out loud.

“If you don’t provide something that is useful, people will just use their smartphones, and we all know that’s the biggest driver distraction there is,” said Mark Dahncke, a spokesman for Audi.