Half of elderly drivers dread the day they'll no longer get behind the wheel

SWNS

A quarter of elderly people feel socially isolated - because they don’t drive.  A poll of 1,000 adults aged 70 and over also found 53 per cent of those who are still driving fear the day they’ll no longer be able to take to the road by themselves.  Almost two thirds (63 per cent) are desperate not to rely on others to help them get about.  The research was commissioned by Nissan which found exactly a fifth of older people would take a ride in a safe self-driving car if it helped them maintain their independence.  And 93-year-old Brad Ashton has been given the chance to experience this automotive technology with a test drive in one of their autonomous vehicles around the village of Cranfield in Bedfordshire.  Talking about the experience, which saw Brad strap himself in for an exclusive 30 minute spin in the autonomous LEAF model through some narrow country lanes, said: “New technology like this is fantastic and it’s important to embrace it.  “Cars were different back in 1947 – you had to crank them up – so I’ve always wondered what the cars of the future would be like – and this is it.

Transcript

00:00Exciting. That's what it was like. Exciting.

00:18I started driving in 1947 when I was just 17.

00:24But cars were different in those days.

00:26You had to crank it up, which I haven't got the strength to do anymore.

00:29You certainly had no indicators where you, if you wanted to turn right,

00:33you had to put your arm out, which you don't do today because you have your watch stolen.

00:41I'm very, very excited about doing the test.

00:44The vehicle you see behind me is our latest autonomous drive research vehicle.

00:49It's a 100% electric Nissan LEAF,

00:51but we combine that with a lot of state-of-the-art sensors

00:54and we basically fuse all of that information together with a high-definition map,

00:58which enables us to accurately position the vehicle on a road.

01:02Roller roads themselves are really quite unique in Europe.

01:05They're quite windy. There is a lack of road marking on the edge.

01:08There's a lack of white lines.

01:09But they're also real high speed and you get vehicles coming in the opposite direction.

01:14And it's really important that we solve the ability to drive on these roller roads

01:18to make autonomous mobility services a success in the future.

01:22We really hope that we can bring people into the environment that we're working in,

01:26you know, such as some older drivers,

01:28to really experience what it's like to be a passenger.

01:57It was fantastic.

01:58I thought I was going to be frightened, I thought I'd be worried, nothing at all.

02:02I was very, very happy with it, very relieved, very relaxed.

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