Study into the ability of those with a head injury injury history to take control of self-driving vehicles when required
image: Islam, F., O’Neill, J., Turner, I., Hunter, S., Kammerman, B., Dulas, M., … Shi, C. (2026). A pilot study on the cognitive and driving performance of high-contact sports athletes in a conditionally automated vehicle. Traffic Injury Prevention, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1080/15389588.2026.2628077
Credit: Islam, F., O’Neill, J., Turner, I., Hunter, S., Kammerman, B., Dulas, M., … Shi, C. (2026). A pilot study on the cognitive and driving performance of high-contact sports athletes in a conditionally automated vehicle. Traffic Injury Prevention, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1080/15389588.2026.2628077
Faculty and doctoral students in the Physical Therapy, Psychology, and Systems Science and Industrial Engineering divisions at Binghamton University co-authored a new study published in Traffic Injury Prevention.
This study explored a person’s ability to intervene in a level-three self-driving vehicle, where the driver must take back control when required (e.g. needing to abruptly stop or swerve).
The team tested two groups in a driving simulator: ice hockey players with a history of concussions or repeated impacts to the head, and a group of participants around the same age who do not play high-contact sports.
The researchers tracked both how well drivers could anticipate upcoming hazards and how they performed manually taking over control when required. After a one-hour driving session, there was a clear divide between participants.
While the athletes did not perform worse on cognitive tests or report feeling more mental stress from the session than the comparison group, they were slower than the comparison group to take manual control of the driving simulation when required. The ice hockey players had an 81% takeover success rate versus the other group’s 93% success rate. The researchers found that the hockey players spent less time successfully maintaining that control.