Dr. Sherrilene Classen, professor and chair of the UF Department of Occupational Therapy, is the lead investigator on STRIDE Project D2 titled “Older Driver Experiences with Autonomous Vehicle Technology”. Her co-principal investigator is Dr. Virginia Sisiopiku of the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Dr. Classen’s team has been researching how older drivers experience autonomous vehicle technology. As a result of this research, two continuing education lectures were developed for inclusion in the Driving Rehabilitation Therapy Certificate program (https://drt.ot.phhp.ufl.edu) offered by the UF Department of Occupational Therapy. The first of its kind offered by a US university, the 21-credit professional certificate is for licensed health care professionals who want to be trained as driving rehabilitation therapists. Therapists learn how to screen, assess and evaluate drivers who are medically-at-risk for driving or who are unfit to drive. Evidence-based interventions help clients learn to use in-vehicle driving assistance technologies in order to stay safe and mobile. The two new lectures focus on autonomous vehicles and automated technologies:

• Autonomous vehicles and medically at-risk-drivers through the lifespan: Role, function and future directives for the Driving Rehabilitation Specialist (DRS).
• Vehicle automation technologies and medically at-risk drivers through the lifespan: Role, function and future directives for the DRS.