How Does Knowledge about System Limitations Contribute to Interventions into Partial Automation Among Elderly Drivers?

The aim of the present study was to investigate elderly driver's reaction/response performance in dealing with a given alert owing to system limitations and to demonstrate what kind of knowledge may contribute to interventions into partial automation among elderly drivers. A two-factorial (knowledge of limitations × age) driving simulator experiment was conducted to collect data during the transition from automated control to manual driving (n=48 participants each in an elderly group [mean age, 70.4 years] and non-elderly group [mean age, 42.5 years]). The results revealed that with increased age, reaction times changed relatively little, but response behavior (i.e., performance after a reaction) declined considerably, especially for critical hazards. On the other hand, the results also showed that providing instruction for some of typical situations would improve driving performance for both elderly and non-elderly drivers. In addition, the comments made in relation to failed and delayed interventions implied that inadequate descriptions of system limitations may cause a driver to rely too heavily on system capabilities. Hence, the results of the present study demonstrate the importance of providing adequate knowledge about system limitations to elderly drivers. These findings are expected to be helpful in discussions regarding how to provide adequate knowledge/information to drivers in consideration of age, driving capability, and traffic conditions.