Automotive companies aim to close the aging population’s mobility gap
Single, childless and 68, Steven Gold has begun to think about future mobility and independence. Although in good health, he can foresee a time when he won’t be a confident driver, if he can drive at all. While he hopes to continue to live in his suburban Detroit home, he wonders how he will be able to get to places like his doctor’s office and the supermarket if his driving becomes impaired.
For older adults like Gold, selfdriving cars might be a solution.
The number of U.S. residents age 70 and older is projected to increase to 53.7 million in 2030, from 30.9 million in 2014, according to the Institute for Highway Safety.
Nearly 16 million people 65 and older live in communities where public transportation is poor or nonexistent.
That number is expected to grow rapidly as baby boomers remain outside of cities.
Aging in place
“The aging of the population converging with autonomous vehicles might close the coming mobility gap for an aging society,” said Joseph Coughlin, director of the Massachusetts Institute for Technology AgeLab in Cambridge.
He said that 70 percent of people older than 50 live in the suburbs. Further, 92 percent of older people want to age in place, he said.
Coughlin said on-demand services like Uber and Lyft were viable alternatives but are not available in many areas where older adults live. Although these companies offer limited app-free services, some older people are wary of riding with strangers and being able to identify the right vehicle. Gold said such services were too expensive for regular use.
In many cases, as with Gold, there are no children around to provide transportation.
A recent study led by Dr. Maria Torroella Carney of Northwell Health in Great Neck, N.Y., found that 22 percent of baby boomers are now or at risk of having limited access to transportation.
“If I were still a good driver in a few years, I’d consider a semiautonomous car,” said Gold, who lives in Oak Park, Mich. “And if I were in a situation where driving was too physically difficult, then I’d consider a fully autonomous car.”
Along with other firms, automakers including Audi, General Motors, Ford Motor, Nissan, Honda, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo and BMW are all in the race to reduce or eliminate the amount of time a person in a vehicle is driving.
There are several levels of autonomy, going in stages from driver assistance to full automation. Within the next four years, BMW hopes to have cars on the street with midlevel automation. BMW and other companies are also working on driverless prototypes that have no steering wheel, brake or gas pedal.
Possible impediments
Still, a world in which fully automated cars are common remains many years away.
“It’s all going to be a slow transition,” said Nicole Carriere, director of public relations for Edmunds.com. “There will be a fundamental shift, but it won’t be overnight.”
James Kenyon is a Detroit franchise owner of Visiting Angels, an agency that provides nonmedical home care for seniors. From what he has observed, older seniors could have a difficult time adjusting to driverless technology.
“It’s a whole mindset change for the elderly to have something that they can’t control and even getting their children to buy into it,” Kenyon said. “Theoretically, it sounds great, but there are so many possible impediments that have to be worked out, like, if there’s a problem, what do they do?”
“It’s all going to be a slow transition. There will be a fundamental shift, but it won’t be overnight.” Nicole Carriere, Edmunds.com public relations director