POTENTIAL VALUE OF GUIDANCE SYSTEMS FOR THE MOBILITY OF BRAIN DAMAGED DRIVERS - A PRELIMINARY STUDY

Among all the Telematic Applications (or ITS) under development, guidance systems which give to the driver step-by-step instructions could be a sufficient aid for brain damaged drivers to be able to complete a full trip without other external assistance. These drivers could also express some specific needs in relation to the design of guidance systems. In order to establish further research protocol and methodological issues, this work consisted of an exploratory study conducted with one brain damaged patient and one control driver. The reported study was composed of different situations: Psychological assessment, route construction with a city map, recognition of guidance symbols, co-piloting with a city map and with a guidance system. The results indicated that the guidance system could have the potential to be a significant help to drivers with cognitive impairments and who are not able to manage the navigation task alone.