Human-Factors and Power-System Implications of Consumer Electronics-Oriented Vehicle Design and Full-Electric Fleet Deployment

The digitalization of vehicles has accelerated the adoption of touchscreen-based control systems and with the growing push toward full electrification of national vehicle fleets.Their combined implications for driver distraction, road safety, and the electrical infrastructure required to support large-scale vehicle electrification remain insufficiently addressed.The present study offers an essential cross-sector perspective for contemporary resilience planning by combining human-factors analysis with system-level energy considerations.This study investigates these issues by examining both the human-machine interaction demands imposed by touchscreen-centric interfaces and the energetic and infrastructural consequences of replacing all gasoline-powered passenger cars in Italy with battery electric vehicles.The methodology integrates a numerical model of driver visual distraction with empirical findings from recent eye-gaze studies.Touchscreen interactions are decomposed into phases of visual reorientation, cognitive decision-making, pointing movement, actuation, and refocusing.This framework allows estimation of total eyes-off-road time and the corresponding blind-driving distance.Model outcomes are systematically compared with measured interaction durations from controlled experimental studies.The results show that touchscreen interactions require significantly longer visual engagement than predicted by idealized human-machine interaction models, particularly for multi-step tasks such as navigation and address entry.In parallel, national fuel consumption data are used to approximate the annual distance traveled by gasoline vehicles on Italian motorways and ordinary roads.These distances are converted into electrical energy demand using representative consumption values, and the associated average and installed charging powers are computed for fast-charging, slow public charging, and universal home-charging scenarios.From an energy-system perspective, replacing all gasoline vehicles with electric vehicles would require charging power levels that exceed the current Italian peak electrical load by a wide margin, especially under a full home-charging configuration.Overall, the findings suggest that touchscreen-based interfaces lead to significant increases in driver workload, while large-scale fleet electrification imposes substantial demands on the national power system.These results underscore the need for safer interface designs and for electrification strategies that incorporate human, infrastructural, and system-level constraints.