A selection of our current work includes: The Driving Decision Older Drivers and New In-vehicle Technologies Health Concerns and The Older Driver Politics and Policy of Older Drivers Licensing and Retests Alternatives to The Car

For most, driving is the key to independence and personal identity. By integrating human factors, cognitive psychology, gerontology, medicine, engineering and planning, the AgeLab conducts research that examines the many factors relating to older drivers. We study and experiment with new technologies that help enhance safety behind the wheel. Other work examines the risks of health and medicine to the driving task. A major pillar of the AgeLab's research is understanding how older adults make decisions to drive and/or cease driving, including how they perceive their own driving ability and the role of families in the driving decision.

In partnership with The Hartford, the AgeLab is applying approaches from gerontology, psychology and social work to better understand how older drivers choose to limit their driving, including the role of experience, technology, and the availability of options.

AgeLab seeks to create practical tools for older adults and their families. Click here to see The Hartford/MIT Guide to Alzheimer's Disease, Dementia and Driving.

In collaboration with the global auto industry, including Toyota, Nissan, Volkswagen, Ford, DaimlerChrysler and Fiat, researchers from MIT’s Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Harvard Medical School, Ben Gurion University in Israel, and MIT’s Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, the AgeLab is conducting extensive research on the design integration of intelligent transportation systems and their promise to promote lifelong safe driving. Current work includes the issue of cognitive workload and the adaptation to new technologies to the driving task of the 50+ year old operator.

HEALTH CONCERNS AND THE OLDER DRIVER

Working with doctors and psychiatrists from Harvard Medical School and gerontologists from The Hartford, we are examining the role of self-reported health on driving behavior. Based on research conducted in our driving simulator, Miss Daisy, and on a nationally representative survey of older drivers, we’ve found a link between self-reported health and driving habits.

POLITICS AND POLICY OF OLDER DRIVERS LICENSING AND RETESTS

AgeLab is committed to informing public policy and the continuing older driver licensing debate. Working in collaboration with the US Department of Transportation's University Transportation Center and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the AgeLab works with political scientists, gerontologists, doctors, and researchers to provide analyses and studies regarding older driver licensing laws in the US and around the world.

ALTERNATIVES TO THE CAR

AgeLab has teamed with researchers from MIT’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Department of Urban Studies and Planning to examine the availability, affordability and acceptability of alternatives to driving. Work includes real and perceived barriers to public transport, land use and zoning and costs to caregivers who provide rides to older friends and families. This work is sponsored by the US Department of Transportation University Transportation Center Program.