Project Overview

Driving cessation is a major challenge for over half a million Canadians living with dementia, their caregivers, and healthcare providers. While dementia can negatively affect a person’s ability to drive safely, the diagnosis itself does not automatically result in mandatory driving cessation. In fact, about one third of individuals with dementia continue to drive after diagnosis (Hopkins et al., 2004). The ability of persons with dementia (PWD) to drive safely deteriorates gradually as the disease progresses and therefore, during early stages of the disease, they may still be able to manage some driving tasks.

That’s why we think that driving cessation of PWD can be delayed or the transition made smoother if they receive appropriate levels of driving assistance. However, no studies have explored the usefulness of this technology to address the driving challenges faced by PWD.

We aim to investigate the potential of automated vehicle to assist PWD in their driving. We are looking into whether AVs can allow people to drive longer with dementia and if it can smooth their transition so that like many other conditions affecting driving they can develop coping mechanisms to remain mobile from the beginning of the diagnosis.