Findings from University of Toronto Yields New Data on Risk Management (Older Adults’ Acceptance of Fully Automated Vehicles: Effects of Exposure, Driving Style, Age, and Driving Conditions)

2021 JUL 22 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Current study results on Risk Management have been published. According to news reporting from Toronto, Canada, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “Automated vehicles are anticipated to have benefits for older adults in maintaining their mobility and autonomy. These anticipated benefits can only be realized if this technology is accepted and thus used by older adults.”

Funders for this research include Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), AGE-WELL NCE Inc., a member of the Networks of Centres of Excellence program, UBER Canada, Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology at the University of Toronto.

The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from the University of Toronto, “However, it remains unclear how certain factors affect older adults’ acceptance of automated vehicles. This study investigated the extent to which older adults’ acceptance of fully automated vehicles are affected by exposure to automated vehicle technology (pre- vs. post-exposure), driving style (manual style relative to automated style), driving conditions (clear, rain, traffic), and age. Thirty-six older adults (M = 73.25, SD = 5.96) completed nonautomated (manual) and fully automated driving scenarios under different driving conditions in a high-fidelity driving simulator. The fully automated driving scenarios were designed to be reliably driven by the system in a conservative driving style. Driving conditions included clear daytime, rain, and high-traffic. Pre- and postexposure to the simulated fully automated driving experience, participants rated their comfort level with fully automated vehicles (FAVs). Additionally, after each driving condition, participants answered a validated questionnaire on their acceptance of the simulated fully automated experience for each respective driving condition. Age and driving style were found to have a significant effect on older adults’ acceptance of FAVs, with older age and greater dissimilarity of an individual’s manual driving style from the FAV’s driving style being associated with lower acceptance.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “The results suggest that if reliability of fully automated vehicles is ultimately ensured and is demonstrated to the older adults, their acceptance of fully automated vehicles is generally high, particularly if the FAV is operated in a style similar to their own.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Older Adults’ Acceptance of Fully Automated Vehicles: Effects of Exposure, Driving Style, Age, and Driving Conditions. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 2021;150. Accident Analysis & Prevention can be contacted at: Pergamon-elsevier Science Ltd, The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford OX5 1GB, England. (Elsevier - www.elsevier.com; Accident Analysis & Prevention - http://www.journals.elsevier.com/accident-analysis-and-prevention/)

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Shabnam Haghzare, University of Toronto, Institute for Biomedical Engineering, 164 Coll St, Toronto, On M5S 3G9, Canada. Additional authors for this research include Alex Mihailidis, Jennifer L. Campos and Katherine Bak.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2020.105919. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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