Preliminary evaluation of a desktop PC-based virtual reality driving assessment

Abstract

This article describes the development and evaluation of a virtual reality (VR) based driving assessment, which runs on a desktop PC and is thus available in a variety of settings. The authors discuss the situations that may result in the need for an assessment of driving competence, including after rehabilitation from a stroke, or simply the effects of older age. The first stage of the evaluation was simply to determine whether the VR driving assessment could distinguish between the performance of drivers and non-drivers and to compare the results obtained across these two groups with their performance on the Stroke Drivers Screening Assessment (SDSA). The authors note that the VR driving assessment discriminated between drivers and non-drivers, which the SDSA did not. However, two measures on the VR driving assessment correlated with drivers' scores on the SDSA.