Older More Open to Driverless Car

And more of us will have to face that prospect

By Bill McLauchlan

Toot your horn, folks. We’ve just passed a new milestone. For the first time ever, there are now more of us aged 65 and over than there are under age 15, according to Statistics Canada.

It’s not news if you’ve been paying attention. It’s been coming for ages. The tail-end of the Baby Boom accounts for the recent scale-tipping revelation. And the disparity will only accelerate as aging GenXers drive into the picture. But are we ready for it?

Setting aside the economic, social and health care ramifications for the moment, consider the impact this silver-haired tsunami will undergo when, not if, it crashes headlong into the age of the driverless car.

If you’re a part of this growing demographic, or soon to be, how do you feel about the prospect of autonomous cars that could make your driving redundant?

Think the driverless car is still far off? Think again. Many of its elements are already here in the cars we drive today. We’ve got cars that park themselves, maintain safe separation in traffic and brake automatically if needed, emergency brake, stay in their own lane, check visual blind spots, navigate using GPS, and more. There's even a pilot project underway in Sweden right now and another about to get underway in the UK. So it’s not too far a stretch to see the day looming when the driver isn’t expected to take control at any time.

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Does this leave you feeling threatened? Fearful? Fascinated? Ready to welcome this coming technology and leave the driving to a system of microchips, sensors and cameras?

Well, surprise, surprise. Contrary to the conventional stereotype about “old dogs and new tricks” it seems those over the age of 50 are leaving the door open to driverless cars. In a recent online survey the AARP (American Association of Retired People) found more openness to the cutting-edge driverless car. AARP asked people, “If you had the opportunity, would you take a ride in a driverless car?”

The idea was popular with people 50 and older, and the older they were, the more open they were to the idea. Here’s what some of them have to say about being in a driverless car:

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“Absolutely! Because it’s safe and there’d be less congestion on the road and I could get where I was going,” remarked one woman.

“I’m adventurous, so I would want to try that,” said another female respondent. “And I think nowadays it’s probably, you know, it’s the new future anyway.”

An equally intrigued male reported, “I would. I think it’s so neat to be in a driverless car. I really do.”

Not everyone in the survey was as trusting, though. One woman demurred by admitting, “No I don’t trust technology enough, it’s just another thing to screw up.”

Control was a major issue for one older male, who commented, “I think it has a long way to go to assure that it’s a safe way of transportation and even at that point I probably won’t be willing to give up control of the vehicle.”

His concern echoes a similar view from a 2014 University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) survey in which 96.2 percent of respondents expressed concern when asked about riding in a driverless vehicle. And 60 percent said they’d be very concerned. Respondents in that survey ranged in age from 18 to more than 60.

So, not everyone appears sold on the idea of putting their butt in a driverless car but, if the AARP survey is anything to go by, Baby Boomers and GenXers look more likely to be faster off the mark.