Age and experience in driving a vehicle and psychomotor skills in the context of automation

Abstract

Past research shows that age and driving experience has a significant impact on on-road behavior. Both reaction time, as well as visual-motor coordination and speed of decision making, play an important role with regard to safety. Consequently, research in this area has been carried out for many years. However, there are still very few studies on the impact of these variables on the speed and way of taking control of an automated vehicle. The purpose of the study designed at the Motor Transport Institute was therefore, including but not limited to, verification of the hypothesis concerning the relevance of age and experience to psychomotor skills and its impact on adaptation to automation. The research involved tools for testing psychomotor skills (reaction time, eye-hand coordination) considered in driver psychological tests. The experimental part was carried out with a passenger car simulator, where the driver's behavior was verified under a specific on-road situation, including control takeover. As expected, the analyses proved that age and experience are important factors for both control takeover and way of reaction. Deficits and some elements related to inexperience were found in older and younger drivers, respectively, and those had a significant impact on the analyzed variables.

Effect of conventional driving experience on trust in autonomous vehicles (L2 and 3): A review

“…Much research has reported the possibility of changing people's perception of AV through training, increased knowledge, and familiarity with relevant technology [35,36] . However, previous experience will be vital in adapting to the new technology, as age and driving experience significantly impact on on-road behavior [37] .…”

“…The contradiction of AV is that while manual skill may not be needed for car driving tasks, it will remain essential under certain critical conditions, especially under lower automation levels, and it is believed that this will place a high demand on drivers who have not been exposed to driving under a high cognitive load, according to Ucińska et al and Lu et al [37,38] . As we move towards more advanced automated vehicles, we must consider drivers' situation awareness and take-over preparedness.…”

Non-Visual Sensing of Metallic Pavement Markers From a Moving Vehicle

“…Our approach resolves the issue of detecting markings during adverse weather in all seasons. The road pavement marker information based on audio signals is especially important for old drivers who have a longer reaction time than young drivers [16] owing to a gradual loss of visual accuracy, difficulty in close vision, changes in color perception, and problems seeing in challenging weather or night-time conditions [5]. A metal marker could be utilized to identify lane lines.…”

Lifestyle Matters: Effects of Habitual Physical Activity on Driving Skills in Older Age

“…Since less cognitive flexibility makes older adults more vulnerable to an unpredictable and changing environment, they may need more time to react correctly. It has also been reported that older drivers tend to brake harder and slower [95,96], and their reaction time was longer to take over the control of the vehicle [97]. Therefore, they may reduce their speed while making driving decisions.…”