Examining Senior Drivers’ Adaptation to Mixed-Level Automated Vehicles: A Naturalistic Approach - Phase II Analysis of the Naturalistic Driving Data

This study is envisioned as a follow-on to a recently-completed 2017 Safe-D project (Phase I). The first phase was focused on how driving exposure to automated vehicle technologies (AVT) can change how seniors, a particularly vulnerable and growing segment of our population, use and accept AVT over time. A variety of self-reported subjective data were analyzed to investigate participants’ attitudes towards AVT. Analyses revealed that seniors’ attitudes towards AVTs correlated positively with driving exposure. In addition, traditional naturalistic driving study (NDS) data were also recorded during the Phase I data collection, encompassing multi-channel video, GPS, lane tracking, and acceleration. The goal of the Phase II follow-on proposed herein is to analyze these already-collected NDS data to evaluate the safety and mobility benefits of AVT for senior drivers. Behavioral and performance comparisons will be made with that of seniors driving non-AVT vehicles, younger drivers driving the same AVT-equipped vehicles, and with trends in the subjective data collected during Phase I. It is expected that the integrated results of Phase I and II together will provide stakeholders (e.g., OEMs, governmental regulation agencies, and safety advocacy groups) with the evidence needed to document and enhance the safety and mobility benefits associated with use of AVT by seniors. Additionally, it will also produce information which can help with their adoption and acceptance of these technologies. Regardless of the inherent safety-enhancing promise AVT holds, any technology which is neither accepted nor voluntarily used will fail to truly move the needle on public safety.

• Record URL:
  https://www.vtti.vt.edu/utc/safe-d/index.php/projects/examining-senior-drivers-adaptation-to-mixed-level-automated-vehicles-a-naturalistic-approach-phase-ii-analysis-of-the-naturalistic-driving-data/

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $168286
• Contract Numbers:

  69A3551747115

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

  University Transportation Centers Program
  Department of Transportation
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Managing Organizations:

  Safety through Disruption University Transportation Center

  Virginia Tech Transportation Institute
  Blacksburg, VA  United States  24060
• Project Managers:

  Harwood, Leslie

• Performing Organizations:

  Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg

  Virginia Tech Transportation Institute
  3500 Transportation Research Plaza
  Blacksburg, VA  United States  24061
• Principal Investigators:

  Antin, Jon

• Start Date: 20190101
• Expected Completion Date: 20191231
• Actual Completion Date: 0
• USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers Program

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Aged drivers; Attitudes; Automatic data collection systems; Autonomous vehicles; Mobility; Traffic safety
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01701448
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Safety through Disruption University Transportation Center
• Contract Numbers: 69A3551747115
• Files: UTC, RiP
• Created Date: Apr 4 2019 2:19PM