Driving Performance of People With Parkinson's Using Autonomous In-Vehicle Technologies

Driving Performance of People With Parkinson's Using Autonomous In-Vehicle Technologies

For drivers with Parkinson's Disease (PD), autonomous in-vehicle technologies may help mitigate functional deficits, improve driving performance, decrease driving errors and enhance their ability to stay on the road. Using a pretest/posttest design the investigators will quantify the use of In-vehicle Information Systems (IVIS) and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) during driving to illustrate how IVIS and ADAS may affect driving, and provide recommendations to drivers with PD, the clinical community and industry.

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Subjects diagnosed by a neurologist/ movement disorder specialist with clinically probable PD by Movement Disorders Society (MDS) criteria 25
2. Has mild or moderate disease severity, based on the MDS-Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale for motor symptoms (hereafter referred to as the UPDRS section 3) in the on state of medications (i.e., one hour of taking PD medications) and the Modified Hoehn and Yahr disease severity scale
3. Is representative of one of two PD groups based on age, i.e., participants with symptom onset between 35-64 years of age (younger onset), or participants with symptom onset between ages 65- 85 years (older onset)
4. Currently driving with a valid license
5. Meets the Florida state requirement for visual acuity of at least 20/50 in one eye, if one eye is blind or 20/200 or worse the other eye must be 20/40 or better (20/40 in at least one eye) and field of vision (130 degrees or more)
6. Lives independently in the community
7. Proficient in reading/speaking English
8. A Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) score of 20 or higher

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Concurrent neurological conditions (e.g., stroke, seizures; dementia)
2. Severe psychiatric (e.g., psychoses/ significant anxiety) or physical conditions (e.g., missing limbs) precluding full participation
3. Use of psychotropic medications having adverse effect on mental/physical functioning
4. Severe, unpredictable motor fluctuations
5. Severe sleep difficulties.