In response to the rapidly ageing global population, the purpose of this paper is to identify the problems of elderly drivers and their relation to emerging in-vehicle technologies. The method is three fold. Firstly, it reviews factors involved in the functional decline of elderly drivers. Secondly, it assesses the feedback and support capabilities of in-vehicle systems (IVSs) with the potential to assist elderly people to drive safely for longer and maintain their quality of life. Lastly, it describes a newly funded project, Social inclusion through Digital Economy (SiDE), which will demonstrate an innovative application of driving simulator technology to test and evaluate the impact of emerging invehicle systems on elderly drivers. This project intends to assess whether it makes them less vulnerable road users. The paper concludes that IVSs providing feedback and support to elderly drivers have the potential to help them recognize their weakness and vulnerability as road users and improve their driving performance through the use of advice, alerts, warnings or active interventions. (Author/publisher)
Abstract