Follow Slashdot blog updates by subscribing to our blog RSS feed

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Transportation

South Korea Will Use VR To Determine If the Elderly Can Keep Driving (thenextweb.com) 30

Posted by BeauHD from the tech-to-the-rescue dept.
The Korean National Police Agency (KNPA) is pushing for the implementation of conditional driver's licenses for the elderly by 2025, Yonhap News reports. How they'll determine who gets to keep their licenses will be via virtual reality. The Next Web reports: As of Monday, a three-year research project has been introduced, which will employ VR tech to assess whether drivers aged 65 years and older can remain behind the wheel. The program's total budget is expected to reach approximately $3 million (3.6 billion won). Contrary to other countries around the word, South Korea has no strict regulations regarding the driving license of seniors, unless they test positive for dementia. Currently, two measures apply: the three-year license renewal period for those aged 75 years and older, and the voluntary return of the driver's license for people over 65 years-old. However, the KNPA is still raising concerns over the number of accidents attributed to senior drivers, as well as the continuous aging of the country's population.

The VR test will asses driving, cognitive, and memory skills using a VR headset, close to how virtual reality technology is used in dementia clinics to check the brain functions of older people. While the specifics are yet to be disclosed, a similar academic research by independent scientists has run an experiment, testing driving performance evaluation based on virtual reality tech. The researchers conducted driving simulator experiments to measure various driving behaviors under many different driving conditions, in order to examine the participants' visual acuity. The virtual simulations included two scenarios: daytime and nighttime highway driving. In both cases, three unexpected incidents were created to test the drivers' performance [...].
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

South Korea Will Use VR To Determine If the Elderly Can Keep Driving More

South Korea Will Use VR To Determine If the Elderly Can Keep Driving

Comments Filter:

  • Premature (Score:5, Insightful)

    by MisterBuggie ( 924728 ) on Monday November 29, 2021 @08:56PM (#62031903)

    This could be a good idea in a few years. But as a VR fan, the tech just isn’t there yet to ensure everyone gets a fair trial. IPD, glare, god rays, screen door effect, glasses, and just the fact of being in VR for someone who’s not used to it. Not to mention how taxing it can be if you suffer from things like migraines and you have days where screens are just difficult to cope with. Plus headsets are heavy and uncomfortable. I think the whole VR experience just isn’t there yet.

    • Also, motion sickness. Oh, God, motion sickness. I've tried VR goggles. Every time I used them for more than a minute or two, I wanted to puke on my shoes.

      I'm pretty sure that I'd not do well on a driving test if my main concern is not hurling in the face of whoever is subjecting me to that torture.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward
        Motion sickness is common if the wearer's IPD hasn't been measured and configured completely accurately, more so than lower frame rates do. If you've only tried VR headsets here and there "for a minute or two" I expect you've skipped this very important step.

    • This could be a good idea in a few years.

      In a few years, Korea will have SDCs for the elderly, so driving will no longer be needed.

      • There will be VR tests for elderly robot cars. They will be cast adrift on a plastic raft in the Pacific if they don't pass.

    • Also, many people's driving behavior is strongly based on kinesthetic feedback.

      In any sort of emergency maneuver the driver has to apply a lot of acceleration to the car (by braking or steering), but not so much that the tires lose traction and the driver loses control. You know immediately how much acceleration the car is undergoing by feel, and can calibrate the strength of the control inputs to the car. In VR you don't have that feedback.

  • ...close to how virtual reality technology is used in dementia clinics to check the brain functions of older people.

    Clearly, a discriminatory practice, since testing the brain functions of younger drivers might preclude many of them from eligibility for a drivers license.

    • Re:hmmm... (Score:5, Informative)

      by Aighearach ( 97333 ) on Monday November 29, 2021 @11:25PM (#62032227)

      You might benefit from knowing that getting a driver's license is rather more difficult in Korea than in most places, and many young people struggle with it. It isn't uncommon to take 2 years of lessons.

      • You mean people actually have to know how to drive to get a license there? Great. Can we get that system in America?

  • I'd expect kids and young adults to do fine, they're used the VR. But can a 50-year-old pass this "driving" test?

    • I would distinguish between passing a formal driving test - do you know the rules and do you follow them - and a seat-of-the-pants test of whether you are alert and comfortable in traffic. Elderly drivers often are slow and cautious which compensates for their declining skills. Mostly they get in the way.

      The danger of starting to apply strict driving tests to elderly is you take away their freedom to move around and drive them into isolation. We should be tolerant and not too obsessed with security in that

      • You didn't really address the 50-year-old issue, but you did make a good point. What truly constitutes "dangerous" driving? Does this test measure that, or is it overly strict?

        • I did address it. I don't think there is substantial decline at that age but there is a lot of sloppiness , cutting corners and such, which does not depend much on age. The average driver commits many serious driving offenses daily.

          • The point about 50-year-olds is that generally speaking, they have not tried VR, they aren't used to how it works. That lack of familiarity with VR equipment may impair their ability to pass a VR test, when they could pass a physical test with no issues.

      • I'll take an old person driving slow over a typical driver glued to their phone to get the latest gossip about their friends. In the US, most accidents I've seen are texting related or drinking. Perhaps in snowbird cities in the winter the accident mix is different than my area.

  • Good idea in theory (Score:4, Informative)

    by Tony Isaac ( 1301187 ) on Monday November 29, 2021 @10:26PM (#62032099) Homepage

    Just last week, I was finally able to get my 82-year-old father-in-law's driving permissions revoked by doctor's orders. He has severe dementia and is completely unaware of drivers next to him. He can barely stay between the lines. The state has a system to revoke driving permissions for older people, but it's a good way to drive a wedge between family members. The doctor's order was the most painless, though to soften the blow, I had to get the doctor to stipulate that he should not drive "until cleared by a doctor." Then I called his doctor to make sure that should never happen. The doctor was in full agreement.

    Still, a way to have some kind of safe test for old people that is administered routinely, would save family members a lot of heartache.

    • Doesn't really sound like it will stop him from driving...

      • What the doctor's order does, is give us a reason, backed by an authority, to take away the car keys. Without the doctor or the state saying my in-laws aren't safe behind a wheel, it's just my opinion against theirs.

  • Average age here is 75.

  • ...we use STOP signs to tell the elderly whether they can keep driving. And everybody else, for that matter.

    Sometimes the message just doesn't get through.

    Oblig Emo Philips:

    "When I die, I want to go quietly in my sleep, like my grandfather - not screaming, like the passengers in his car."

  • As an older driver I am amazed that I can just keep driving without any retest, just a declaration that I'm fit to drive. I'd be happy to take a retest but couldn't cope with VR.

    • In the US it varies somewhat by state but they do things like randomly call you in for a vision screening before they let you renew your license (happened to me in Massachusetts at age 31) and I think a few states make over-70 people take road tests again.

      Private insurance plays a role too. When my dad ticked over the senior citizen milestone, his insurance rate went up unless he took a driver's ed for seniors class.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by dhaen ( 892570 )
        I wish it was universal, many of the old drivers are a greater risk than the young drivers. And I was a seriously risky driver when I was young!

  • Interesting that Tesla is testing beta software for "full self driving". In order to qualify to test the beta software, you have to apply and the car monitors your driving for a period of time and gives you a score. If your score is high enough, you are eligible to test the beta software.

    I keep hoping that self driving cars will improve faster than my driving skills deteriorate (I'm old) to the point where the car can take over someday.

Slashdot Top Deals

E = MC ** 2 +- 3db

Close