Driven to comment: Learning from older drivers' impressions of in-vehicle technologies
archive: archived pipeline: cataloged verified
Summary
HFES 2019 Annual Meeting poster (Aspire Conference, University of Utah / AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety) reporting a qualitative analysis of older and younger drivers' open-ended comments about in-vehicle information systems (IVIS) gathered during an on-road driving study. Comments were coded with an Inductive Thematic Hybrid Analysis and weighted to handle disparity in comment volume between age groups. Themes included Safety & Risk, Familiarity & Learning, General Usability, Real-World Application, Physical Design, Comparative Statements & Preferences, and Miscellaneous. A chi-square analysis examined the valence (positive, negative, neutral) of comments across age cohorts.
Key finding
Both older and younger drivers expressed predominantly negative impressions of IVIS, with most comments centered on General Usability. Older drivers made more Safety/Risk comments and were notably more open than younger drivers to additional training, suggesting they are more forgiving of inconvenient interfaces and willing to invest time learning, while younger drivers expressed futility with systems they viewed as poorly designed. The authors argue these findings support Universal Design principles for IVIS.
Methodology
Qualitative on-road driving study. 128 participants (52 women) recruited into younger (mean age 24.8) and older (mean age 65.8) groups. Drivers operated instrumented vehicles equipped with IVIS and DRT, then provided open-ended comments. A multi-phase Inductive Thematic Analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006; Crowe, Inder, & Porter, 2015) named primary themes and coded utterance frequency. A weighting step compensated for unequal comment volume between age groups. A chi-square analysis tested differences in comment valence by age cohort.
Sample size: N=128 (52 women); younger mean age 24.8, older mean age 65.8
Quality score: 5 / 5