School of Transportation Engineering, Chang'an University, Xi'an, China.
National Transport Design Centre, Coventry University, Coventry, UK.
Traffic Inj Prev. 2024;25(7):968-975. doi: 10.1080/15389588.2024.2352788. Epub 2024 Jun 11.
Vehicle automation technologies have the potential to address the mobility needs of older adults. However, age-related cognitive declines may pose new challenges for older drivers when they are required to take back or "takeover" control of their automated vehicle. This study aims to explore the impact of age on takeover performance under partially automated driving conditions and the interaction effect between age and voluntary non-driving-related tasks (NDRTs) on takeover performance.
A total of 42 older drivers ( = 65.5 years, SD = 4.4) and 40 younger drivers ( = 37.2 years, SD = 4.5) participated in this mixed-design driving simulation experiment (between subjects: age [older drivers vs. younger drivers] and NDRT engagement [road monitoring vs. voluntary NDRTs]; within subjects: hazardous event occurrence time [7.5th min vs. 38.5th min]).
Older drivers exhibited poorer visual exploration performance (i.e., longer fixation point duration and smaller saccade amplitude), lower use of advanced driving assistance systems (ADAS; e.g., lower percentage of time adaptive cruise control activated [ACCA]) and poorer takeover performance (e.g., longer takeover time, larger maximum resulting acceleration, and larger standard deviation of lane position) compared to younger drivers. Furthermore, older drivers were less likely to experience driving drowsiness (e.g., lower percentage of time the eyes are fully closed and Karolinska Sleepiness Scale levels); however, this advantage did not compensate for the differences in takeover performance with younger drivers. Older drivers had lower NDRT engagement (i.e., lower percentage of fixation time on NDRTs), and NDRTs did not significantly affect their drowsiness but impaired takeover performance (e.g., higher collision rate, longer takeover time, and larger maximum resulting acceleration).
These findings indicate the necessity of addressing the impaired takeover performance due to cognitive decline in older drivers and discourage them from engaging in inappropriate NDRTs, thereby reducing their crash risk during automated driving.
车辆自动化技术有可能满足老年人的出行需求。然而，当老年人需要接管或“夺回”他们的自动驾驶汽车的控制权时，与年龄相关的认知能力下降可能会给他们带来新的挑战。本研究旨在探讨部分自动驾驶条件下年龄对接管性能的影响，以及年龄与非驾驶相关自愿任务（NDRT）之间的交互效应对接管性能的影响。
本混合设计驾驶模拟实验共纳入 42 名老年驾驶员（ = 65.5 岁，SD = 4.4）和 40 名年轻驾驶员（ = 37.2 岁，SD = 4.5）。实验采用组间设计，分别为年龄（老年驾驶员与年轻驾驶员）和 NDRT 参与（道路监测与自愿 NDRT）；采用组内设计，为危险事件发生时间（7.5 分钟与 38.5 分钟）。
与年轻驾驶员相比，老年驾驶员表现出较差的视觉探索表现（即注视点持续时间更长，眼跳幅度更小）、较少使用先进驾驶辅助系统（ADAS；例如，自适应巡航控制激活时间百分比较低[ACCA]）和较差的接管性能（例如，接管时间更长，最大加速度更大，车道位置标准差更大）。此外，与年轻驾驶员相比，老年驾驶员不太可能出现驾驶困倦（例如，眼睛完全闭上的时间百分比和 Karolinska 睡眠量表水平较低）；然而，这一优势并不能弥补与年轻驾驶员在接管性能上的差异。老年驾驶员的 NDRT 参与度较低（即，对 NDRT 的注视时间百分比较低），NDRT 并未显著影响他们的困倦程度，但会损害接管性能（例如，碰撞率更高，接管时间更长，最大加速度更大）。
这些发现表明，有必要解决老年驾驶员认知能力下降导致的接管性能受损问题，并劝阻他们从事不当的 NDRT，从而降低他们在自动驾驶过程中的碰撞风险。
