UF & UAB’s Phase I Demonstration Study: Older Driver Experiences With Autonomous Vehicle Technology
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Summary
This study addresses the critical need to understand older adults’ perceptions of autonomous vehicles (AVs) to facilitate technology adoption and improve safety outcomes. Older adults (>65 years) comprise nearly 20% of the U.S. population and rely heavily on driving for mobility, yet they face elevated risks of crash-related injury and death due to age-related declines in physical and cognitive functions. While AVs offer potential safety and health benefits, previous research lacked data on older drivers’ perceptions following direct exposure to the technology. This study aimed to quantify changes in older drivers’ perceptions regarding safety, trust, and intention to use AVs after experiencing both real-world and simulated autonomous driving. The researchers employed a repeated measures crossover design involving 104 older drivers. Participants were randomly allocated to experience two modes of SAE Level 4 automation: an EasyMile EZ10 autonomous shuttle operating in a closed loop and a high-fidelity driving simulator programmed to run in autonomous mode. To ensure measurement validity, the team first developed and validated an Autonomous Vehicle User Perception Survey (AVUPS) through expert review and psychometric testing. They also created congruent driving routes for the shuttle and simulator. Participants completed the AVUPS at baseline and after each exposure, assessing nine domains including safety, trust, perceived usefulness, and control. Data were analyzed using a two-way mixed ANOVA to evaluate time effects, group effects, and interaction effects. The results indicated no significant group effects between the shuttle and simulator conditions. However, significant time effects were observed: older drivers’ perceptions of safety, trust, and perceived usefulness increased after exposure to AV technology. Significant group-by-time interaction effects were found for intention to use, trust, perceived usefulness, control/driving efficacy, and safety. Notably, trust trajectories varied by exposure order; for one group, trust increased after the simulator but decreased to baseline after the shuttle, while the other group maintained increased trust after the shuttle through the simulator experience. Perceived safety increased regardless of exposure order. The study reported a 0% attrition rate, with no participants dropping out due to simulator sickness, a common issue in this demographic. The study concludes that direct exposure to AV technology significantly enhances older drivers’ perceptions of safety, trust, and usefulness, suggesting that lived experience is a crucial determinant for technology acceptance. The findings support the feasibility of using both autonomous shuttles and simulators to assess and promote AV adoption among older adults. The authors recommend repeated testing across different contexts and technologies, as local conditions and system variations may influence perceptions. This research provides foundational evidence for strategies to improve older driver adoption practices and informs policy and design considerations for the deployment of autonomous vehicle services.
Key finding
Exposure to autonomous vehicle technology significantly increased older drivers' perceptions of safety, trust, and perceived usefulness.
Methodology
mixed_methods
Sample size: 104
Provenance
The full processing record for this entry. Every stage of this paper's journey through the pipeline is logged — what ran, with which tool and model, how many attempts it took, and when it last completed. Discovered via bulk_ingest_rosap on 2026-05-23 (6 acquisition events logged).
| Stage | Outcome | Tool | Model | Prompt | Attempts | Completed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| discover | success | rosap | — | — | 2 | 2026-05-23 |
| archive | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-23 |
| extract | success | cached | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
| clean | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-01 |
| chunk | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-01 |
| embed | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-02 |
| enrich | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-23 |
| promote | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-23 |
| summarize | success | llm | qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant | summ-v5 | 3 | 2026-06-10 |
| tag | success | vector_similarity | — | — | 19 | 2026-06-11 |
| verify | success | — | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-10; verification: verified.
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- Empirical Findings: self report data
- Methodological Resource: validation psychometrics, tool software