Recently, local seniors lined up outside UF Health Precision Health Research in The Villages, eager to get inside an empty shuttle. None of them were driving. That was what made it exciting. Over multiple days last week, seniors participated in a study spearheaded by the University of Florida’s College of Public Health and Health Professions researchers.
OT researchers and partners have launched a new study to understand older adults’ perceptions and experiences with an autonomous shuttle.
Dr. Sherrilene Classen and collaborators Dr. Vandeweerd, Dr. Stetten, Isabelle Wandenkolk and our Industry partner Mark Reid, have been awarded an Office of Rural Health grant to ascertain, statewide in five Florida counties, the Veteran needs, perceptions, challenges, and opportunities inherent to the use of autonomous shuttles.
Drs. Classen and Vandeweerd (Co-PI) and their team of co-investigators (Drs. Mason and Stetten) and industry partner Mark Reid from Beep received a Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) Grant (Project ID: TEO-22-04) to assess older adults’ perceptions before and after exposure to autonomous ride sharing services to inform education, practice, and policy.
This study aims to assess the efficacy of autonomous in-vehicle technologies to mitigate functional deficits and improve driving performance in persons with Parkinson’s disease (PD). The study findings will illustrate provide valuable recommendations to drivers with PD, the clinical community, and the industry as well as explore the adoption practices of this emerging technology.
The deployment of autonomous vehicle (AV) technologies may hold important health and safety benefits for drivers across the driving lifespan. However, such benefits can materialize only if transportation users are willing to embrace the emerging technologies. Earlier studies document a wide variance in acceptance practices, based solely on surveys of drivers. This research used a combined approach of surveys and lived experiences of drivers engaging with AV technologies to examine technology acceptance and adoption of AV technologies. The webinar summarizes findings from the analysis of younger and middle-aged drivers’ perceptions of AVs before and after a) “driving” an interactive high-fidelity RTI driving simulator, in Level 4 autonomous mode, and b) riding in an autonomous shuttle (AS). Moreover, it discusses predictive models of facilitators and barriers for AV acceptance built from data collected from younger and middle-aged drivers (N=106) and older drivers (N=104). The findings reveal important foundational information about driver acceptance, their intention to use AVs, barriers to AV technology, and well-being related to AV technology across the driving lifespan.
The grant has the goal to determine older adults’ perceptions before and after exposure to autonomous ride sharing services. The information is critical for informing education, practice, and policy initiatives pertaining to facilitators and challenges for autonomous ride sharing services.
This study will assess the perceptions of rural Veterans before and after riding in the EasyMile EZ10 automated shuttle. We will also conduct focus groups to obtain Veterans' perceptions after riding in the automated shuttle.
Older adults will tell you that losing their driving license is like getting a death sentence. In her unstoppable journey to empower seniors, Dr. Sherrilene Classen, a professor and chair of the Department of Occupational Therapy in the UF College of Public Health and Health Professions, is getting older adults comfortable with autonomous vehicle technology as well as conducting research to develop autonomous transit resources to promote their independence and safety.
Investigations related to autonomous vehicle technology and driving performance in people with Parkinson's.
