College of Virginia is Utilizing Digital Actuality to Assist Individuals with Autism Study to Drive
About one in three American teenagers with autism get a driver’s license. That is significantly lower than the average for all young people in the country, which is more than 60%. People on the Spectrum can have difficulty learning to drive as delayed decision-making and problems with multitasking make things difficult at times. A program at the University of Virginia is working to help people with autism overcome the challenge of driving.
Dr. Daniel J. Cox, a researcher in the Department of Psychiatry at UVA, has worked to tailor driver training to drivers on the spectrum. To make the learning process more pleasant, he has been using a room-sized driving simulator for some time. Now he’s making things even more accessible with a cheaper “mixed reality” headset that would-be drivers could even take home.
Dr. Says Cox, “Our simulator is too big, too expensive, and too sophisticated and complicated to be exported extensively. Now we have developed what is known as a “mixed reality head-mounted display simulator”. It takes the same course of the road that we developed … and shows that. But what we did is mount two cameras on the glasses that film the driver’s hands on the steering wheel. It mixes the reality with the virtual world so that you can see your hands and feet in this immersive world. It’s like using our simulator without the need for the simulator. “
Dr. Cox is now testing the headsets to see how much use they can offer. His team has invited new drivers, both those in the spectrum and those who aren’t, to use the devices in a clinical trial by the end of 2021. The hope is to understand if the new approach is helpful and how it compares with the space-large simulator. The study, funded by a grant from the UVA’s Supporting Transformative Autism Research program, will also examine the difference in performance between neurotypical participants and those with autism in both forms of simulation.
The hope is that the headsets will ultimately provide a way for those on the spectrum to be more comfortable on the road and to do so safely.
Dr. Cox told WVIR in Charlottesville, “We’re using it with people on the spectrum to target two things. First: to improve your driving skills. And secondly: to reduce your worries, fears and apprehensions while driving. “
If successful, it will also be used for other new drivers who need to make it a little more comfortable before they get behind the wheel.
