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In just a few weeks, the international DDI community will gather in Gothenburg for the 10th International Conference on Driver Distraction and Inattention. As we count down to DDI 2026, we take a look back at a conference series – and a research field – that has changed considerably since the first DDI was held in Gothenburg in 2009.

On 20–22 October, researchers and practitioners from around the world will once again meet in Gothenburg to exchange knowledge, challenge established thinking and explore the next generation of research on distraction, inattention and human attention in an increasingly complex transport system.

And for anyone still considering joining us: there are currently just a few places remaining for DDI 2026.

From Gothenburg in 2009 to the 10th DDI
The first DDI conference was held in Gothenburg in 2009, bringing together researchers and practitioners from fields including human factors, neuroscience, vehicle design, road safety and policy. At the time, driver distraction and inattention were increasingly recognised as major road safety challenges – but the scientific field was still establishing its foundations.

The conference series itself was initiated by Michael “Mike” Regan and Trent Victor. One small decision made at the very beginning has stayed with the conference ever since: Mike originally proposed the International Conference on Driver Distraction, while Trent suggested adding the words “and Inattention”.

And DDI was born.

From mobile phones to attention in an increasingly automated world
A look back through the proceedings from the previous nine conferences tells a fascinating story about how the research field has developed.

In the early years, many of the fundamental questions concerned what distraction actually is, how it can be measured and how different secondary tasks affect driving and crash risk. Mobile phones, mental workload, visual and cognitive distraction, roadside advertising and driver behaviour were among the prominent topics.

As smartphones and increasingly sophisticated in-vehicle interfaces became part of everyday driving, the questions evolved. Researchers increasingly examined not only whether something was distracting, but when drivers engage in secondary tasks, how context influences risk, how drivers compensate and how the design of vehicle interfaces affects attention and workload.

Then came another major transition: vehicle automation.

From around 2015 onwards, automated driving, transitions of control, non-driving-related tasks and the increasingly complex relationship between human and machine became central DDI topics. By 2021, the conference theme explicitly addressed the “disconnected driver” in manual, assisted and autonomous driving.

The questions have changed
The development of the field – and of DDI – can perhaps best be captured through the questions the community has been asking:

2009: What is distraction, how serious is it, and how can we measure it?

2011–2013: How do different secondary tasks compete with driving, and how should we assess them?

2015–2018: What happens when technology changes the driving task itself – particularly through automation?

2021–2024: What happens when the driver is no longer continuously engaged, and can attention be measured and managed dynamically?

2026 and beyond: Can we design the driver–vehicle–traffic system so that attention is managed adaptively, rather than simply trying to eliminate distraction?

That final question says a great deal about where the field stands today.

Driver monitoring, eye tracking, naturalistic data, multimodal sensing, machine learning and increasingly sophisticated vehicle systems allow researchers to study attention in ways that would have been difficult to imagine when DDI began. At the same time, they introduce new questions: What does it actually mean to be attentive? What can a vehicle reliably infer about a driver's state? And how should humans and increasingly intelligent vehicles share attention, capability and responsibility?

Ten editions – and still evolving
Yet the original challenges have not disappeared. Human attention is still limited. Mobile phones, visual and cognitive distraction, fatigue, workload and individual differences remain highly relevant. New technologies have added new dimensions to the problem rather than replacing the old ones.

That makes the theme of the 10th edition particularly fitting:

Trends, Technologies and Transitions in Distraction and Inattention.

Those three words capture much of DDI's journey – from understanding distraction primarily as an individual driver problem towards understanding attention as part of a complex and increasingly technologically mediated transport system.

And now the journey comes back to where it started.

On 20 October, the DDI community will once again gather in Gothenburg – 17 years after the first conference was held here. This time for the 10th DDI, with new questions, new technologies and new generations of researchers and practitioners joining the community.

A lot has changed since 2009. The fundamental ambition has not: bringing together an international community to build knowledge, create new collaborations and ultimately contribute to safer roads.

Welcome back to Gothenburg. Welcome to the 10th DDI.

There are currently a few places remaining for DDI 2026, 20–22 October in Gothenburg.