How can digital technologies support older drivers and make our roads safer?

We live in an ageing society where social interactions are increasingly important. Driving is key to socialising in various urban and rural settings, particularly in places such as Surrey which has very high car-ownership levels. Ageing poses many challenges for driving and this challenge becomes ever more pressing as we are living longer and develop more medical conditions the older we get.

So, how can we ensure that our driving skills stay up to date as we age to keep everyone safe?

Dr Nikolas Thomopoulos applied and successfully hosted an Institute of Advanced Studies (IAS) Fellow for one year in 2024 to build on past WISE-ACT activities and work collaboratively in tackling this challenge. He says:

“We are thankful to the Institute of Advanced Studies for providing this IAS Fellowship and to the Faculty of Arts, Business and Social Sciences, which allowed us to set-up and host a driving simulator at Surrey Hospitality and Tourism Management. Working closely with the IAS Fellow, Prof Jaka Sodnik, has been an excellent opportunity to put into practice the knowledge acquired and skills developed through the ARC Accelerator programme during 2023. This competitive national programme aims at supporting SHAPE (Social Sciences, Humanities and the Arts for People and the Economy) researchers to improve society, the economy and the world around us. Hosting two workshops with national experts and conducting an innovative driving simulator study through community involvement has been hugely beneficial for us to generate research impact.”

Delegates at the Centre for Excellence on Ageing's workshop

We are delighted to continue our collaboration with Dr Nikolas Thomopoulos and Prof Jaka Sodnik, which will allow us to have the driving simulator used by patients with acquired brain injuries. This will offer invaluable insights about cognitive, motoric and sensory skills not only of healthy populations, but also of older drivers with specific health conditions. We anticipate that our joint driving simulator studies will generate wider impact, benefitting older drivers across the UK and internationally.

Alison Watt, MiNT Academy Head of Clinical Operations at Hobbs Rehabilitation

As a Centre for Excellence on Ageing (CEA) Fellow, Nikolas has joined various activities and presented this research at a joint CEA and International Longevity Centre UK (ILC) event on 30 January 2025. ILC expressed interest to collaborate building on his driving support and new mobility services research, so joint activities have been planned. At the same time, Nikolas and Jaka are actively exploring commercialisation options in collaboration with the driving simulator provider. With the support of the Surrey Business School Dean, they managed to arrange in 2025 for the driving simulator to be hosted by Hobbs Rehabilitation. The MiNT Academy Head of Clinical Operations at Hobbs Rehabilitation is excited about this development.

Their future plans include joint presentations of research findings at invited conferences, e.g. UTSG 2025 in Dublin and BSG 2025 in Guildford to highlight the value and impact in diverse sectors such as gerontology, health, tourism and transport. Recently, Nikolas was invited as the Working Group 4 Leader to attend the first Core Group meeting of BOPALiM (2024-2028) in Portugal, which is a new international network of primarily health experts focusing on driving assessment and lifelong mobility. These activities demonstrate promising potential to generate further impact through this research collaboration and to ensure that digital technologies will be used to serve the needs of older drivers, whilst alleviating the unavoidable challenges of ageing and making our roads safer.