Senior Drivers: Using the Benefits of Automated Driving for the Elderly

Abstract

Since the commercial launch of vehicles, life expectancy in Western countries almost doubled, and this trend is expected to continue. By 2060, some 30% of the society will be elderly people (aged 65+). It is obvious that the elderly will become an important target group for manufacturers of automated driving systems and that vehicle designers will have to deal with their special needs and requirements. This is further underpinned by the fact that most purchaser of (premium) vehicles are over 50. In this work, we discuss relevant aspects of the target group 65+ in the context of (highly) automated driving and propose a research method to identify how future interfaces for automated vehicles should look like. By performing a user-centered design process composed of different methods (user studies in driving simulators, think-aloud, and UX-curves), we hypothesize that the requirements of elderly people can be assessed adequately. The final result of this project should be a better understanding of critical issues for senior driver-passengers in terms of UX, user acceptance, and trust in technology.