Brian Ratliff from Nuance gives us a demo of Dragon Drive, the voice activation system in the new BMW 7 Series. Video shot/edited by Jennifer Hahn (video link)

LAS VEGAS—Distracted driving is a real problem. Even though most of us intrinsically know that playing with our phones isn’t compatible with piloting a vehicle surrounded by other vehicles and pedestrians, it’s a common enough problem that more than a quarter of all crashes involve cell phone use. Not using a phone at all in the car is obviously the ideal solution, but like teenagers and sex, hoping for abstinence is a high-minded but ultimately ineffective approach. If people are going to text and drive—which they are—then systems that make that a safer activity are probably a good thing. At CES last week, Nuance (the company behind Dragon Dictation) gave us a demo of its solution to the problem.