Autonomous Vehicles for Independent Living of Older Adults - Insights and Directions for a Cross-European Qualitative Study

Abstract

Autonomous Vehicles (AV) are expected to have a revolutionary impact on future Society, forming an integral component of future Smart Cities & regions. ‘Impacts’ range from changes in mobility, environment, planning, infrastructure, employment, leisure time to disruptive business models etc. Designing user centred mobility experiences for citizens ensuring trust, adoption and enhanced experience of emerging AV systems, products and services is an important emerging research challenge today. It is projected that ‘older adults’ (65+) will encompass approximately one third of the mobility marketplace by 2060, with the broader ‘Silver Economy’ set to provide enormous potential for new forms of product/services and related business models. AV’s have the potential to prolong independent living of ‘older adults’ (OA) thus enhancing overall quality of life. For example, driving cessation and mobility barriers correlate with poorer health outcomes. Ensuring future AV adoption requires designin g mobility experiences addressing the differing life contexts (i.e. health, financial, mobility needs etc.) of OA. This paper presents context, motivation and initial findings from a qualitative pilot study of Irish Older adults that informs the design of a cross-European study to support ‘Independent Living of Older adults’ in a future AV marketplace that encompasses new Mobility As A Service offerings.