# In-Vehicle Sensors to Detect Cognitive Change in Older Drivers

> **NIH NIH R01** · FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY · 2022 · $15,868

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Brain changes associated with Alzheimer’s disease and related chronic degenerative dementias may
begin as long as 20 years before clinical symptoms become evident. There is increasing evidence that
unobtrusive monitoring of older adults’ performance of complex daily activities of living may allow us to
detect some of these subtle early changes in cognition. The rapidly increasing use of sensors not only in
commercial vehicles, but also in passenger vehicles, and large number of older drivers on U.S. roads
suggest that sensor data may be reconfigured to provide this early warning system. In this longitudinal
mixed methods study, we will recruit and enroll 750 older drivers, establish their baseline cognitive
function and driving behavior profiles, and repeat the cognitive testing and in-vehicle sensor data
downloading every three months for three years (12 data points). Over this time, we expect
approximately 200 participants to have experienced measurable cognitive decline either from
unimpaired to mild cognitive impairment levels and/or mild cognitive impairment to early stage
dementia levels. We propose to install a sensor system which will include unobtrusive cameras, on-
board diagnostics (OBD), GPS and inertial measurement units (IMU) configured to track and record
driver behavior in the passenger vehicles of these 750 older adult (≥ 65) drivers. The recorded changes
in driver behavior will be compared to results from a battery of cognitive tests (global cognition,
executive function, memory, visuospatial, visual attention and language) with demonstrated ability to
detect early cognitive changes and to predict driver risk. The innovation of this research project lies in
the rigorous testing of an unobtrusive, rapidly and readily available in-vehicle sensing and monitoring
system for its ability to detect early changes in cognition in older drivers. There is an estimated 4 to 8
million older drivers with mild cognitive impairment on the roads in the U.S. This significant number of
older drivers poses a major concern for public safety. Moreover, the majority may be unaware of the
cognitive changes occurring. Current dementia screening programs are able to test only a small number
of older adults and the wellness visits covered by Medicare do not detect these early, subtle changes.
Yet early detection offers many medical, emotional and financial benefits for the individual, family and
society, opening a “window of time” to intervene in the progression of the disease in the future
(Alzheimer’s Association 2019 Report). The proposed testing and evaluation of a readily and rapidly
available, unobtrusive in-vehicle sensing system could provide the first step toward future widespread,
low-cost, early warnings of change for the large number of older drivers in the U.S.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10505706
- **Project number:** 3R01AG068472-02S1
- **Recipient organization:** FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** David Newman
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $15,868
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2020-09-15 → 2025-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10505706

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10505706, In-Vehicle Sensors to Detect Cognitive Change in Older Drivers (3R01AG068472-02S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10505706. Licensed CC0.

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