A new study conducted by Quantcast (and picked up by TechCrunch) indicates that owners of Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s Model S sedan mostly look at news sites using the browser in the car. The car is the first one which comes with a fully functional browser installed, and that browser can be used while driving.
Isolating Tesla browser data
Quantcast was able to use a special identifier to determine which website visits were done on Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s in-car browser. The firm looked at 100 million sites which were visited in 30 days. Any sites which received over 100 page views were given closer scrutiny. In all, Quantcast examined 463,000 page views done from a Tesla car.
The firm found that news content made up 54% of traffic from Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s browser. It reported that Drudge Report made up 10% of those page views, while all finance news websites together made up 13% of the views. Under the general news category, local news sites collectively were 26% of the page views.
Tesla owners use the browser constantly
The firm also found that usage from 7 a.m. all the way through 6 p.m. was fairly constant. Quantcast wondered if that meant that Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) owners just drive all day long. However, there were some interesting differences in different time frames during the day. For example, drivers viewed more entertainment content during the middle of the day and focused more on news during typical commute hours.
What this data can’t show us is exactly who is using the browser or just how fast the car is going while the browser is being used. For example, drivers in big cities may carpool to work, so it could (hopefully” be the passenger who is using the browser. And those who have ever been stick in a gridlock can probably say that sneaking a peak at the massive screen doesn’t hurt while sitting still.
Tesla shows people like in-car browsers
So what does all of this data tell us about having a browser in the car? It shows that there is a market for them, even though drivers and their passengers probably have smartphones with them. Of course using a smartphone while driving is not smart and prohibited in many places, but there are no specific laws regarding using a browser while driving, mainly because there’s only one car which has one. Nonetheless, this could be the direction in which the auto industry is going, which highlights the need for more awareness on this topic.
