Characteristics and human factors of senior drivers: improvement opportunities in the automotive interior design

Abstract

This paper analyses the characteristics and the human factors of the senior drivers and how those can influence the driving experience. We analysed recent studies in ergonomics, iteration and influence of the technologies applied to design the physical interfaces and their respective board devices, with the aim of identifying improvement opportunities in enabling usability design onboard tasks. The research methodology is descriptive with the collection of baseline studies within the auto industry, ergonomics, health and senior mobility. We concluded that even the latest car models do not provide the highest levels of safety and comfort that could be achieved, opting some manufacturers to include extra resources to mitigate  the changes that result from aging. It is suggested to create a script of automotive interior design recommendations to improve the safety, the comfort and the inclusion of the senior drivers.