12: Adjunct Proceedings - Automotive User Interfaces and ...

Age and Gender Differences in the Acceptance and
Effectiveness of Intelligent Warning Systems
Joonwoo Son *
HumanLAB
Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science & Technology
Deagu, South Korea
+82 53 785 4740
json@dgist.ac.kr
ABSTRACT
Objective: This paper aims to investigate age and gender
differences in the acceptance and effectiveness of intelligent
warning systems. Backgrounds: Understanding of age and
gender differences in technology acceptance and effectiveness
towards intelligent in-vehicle services may help successful
introduction of new technology in auto-market. Method: 52
drivers were participated in on-road field experiments. With or
without ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) support,
they drove approximately 7.9km on urban road (about 25 minutes)
and 36km of highway (about 20 minutes). After completing the
driving experiment, the ADAS-supported group (a half of all
participant) responded to questionnaire. Result: The results
suggested that age and gender differences in the effectiveness and
acceptance of intelligent warning system were significant, and the
effectiveness and acceptance can differ from its intended effects.
Categories and Subject Descriptors
J.4 [Social and Behavioral Sciences]
General Terms
Human Factors
Adjunct Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Automotive User Interfaces and
Interactive Vehicular Applications (AutomotiveUI '12), October 17–19, 2012, Portsmouth, NH, USA
Keywords
Intelligent Vehicle, Technology Acceptance, Age and Gender
Difference, Forward Collision Warning, Lane Departure Warning
1. INTRODUCTION
In order to meet consumers’ desire to extend their connected
lifestyle, automakers provide drivers with intelligent driver
assistance systems and services. However, technology acceptance
and effectiveness may vary by gender and age groups. According
to the American Automobile Manufacturers Association, drivers
age 60 and older are the principal purchasers of 23 percent of new
passenger cars in the United States [1]. Since many older drivers
purchase new vehicles, understanding of age difference in
technology acceptance and effectiveness towards enhanced safety
systems and connected car services may offer an opportunity for
the older drivers’ vehicles to incorporate technologies that may
help them compensate for some of their diminished driving
Copyright held by author(s)
AutomotiveUI'12, October 17-19, Portsmouth, NH, USA.
Adjunct Proceedings
Myoungouk Park
HumanLAB
Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science & Technology
Deagu, South Korea
+82 53 785 4751
violet1211@dgist.ac.kr
capabilities. There are a variety of advanced driver assistance
systems such as electronic stability control, brake assist, forward
collision warning systems, lane departure warning systems,
adaptive cruise control, and night vision, are available in market.
ADAS can compensate for driver distraction risks caused by
advanced connected infotainment systems [2]. According to the
Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI), forward collision avoidance
systems show the biggest crash reductions and lane departure
warning (LDW) appears to hurt, rather than help [3]. The opposite
of LDW’s intended effect can be caused by driver’s lower
acceptance due to some reasons such as frequent false alarms and
unpleasant warning sound. Therefore, acceptance of new
technology is vital for implementation success. This leads to a
number of research efforts on in-vehicle technology acceptance.
A standardized checklist for the assessment of acceptance of new
in-vehicle technology was proposed by Van der Laan to compare
impact of new devices with other systems [4]. Regan et al. [5]
stated that usefulness, ease of use, effectiveness, affordability and
social acceptance are the key components for technology
acceptance. Comte et al. [6] studied driver acceptance of
automatic speed limiters to discover how acceptable drivers
considered a speed-limiting device to be. Piao et al. [7] assessed
acceptance of ADAS and automated vehicle guidance (AVG)
using operator and user surveys. Brookhuis et al. [8] assessed
mental workload of drivers and acceptance of the system to
understand the effects of driving with a congestion assistant
system on drivers. However, there has been little research has
been conducted on age and gender difference in effectiveness and
acceptance of forward collision warning and lane departure
warning systems.
In this study, the impact of intelligent warning systems on driving
behavior related to safe driving was investigated through on-road
experiments and the participants’ acceptance of the intelligent
warning systems was surveyed. The findings suggested that age
and gender differences in the effectiveness of intelligent warning
system were significant, but the acceptance was not significant.
2. METHOD
2.1 Subject
For this study, 52 younger and late middle age (LMA) drivers
were participated (see details in Table 1) and they met the
following criteria: age between 25-35 or between 55-65, drive on
average more than twice a week, be in self-reported good health.
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