Autism & Virtual Reality: VR Game Helps Autistic People Learn How To Drive Safely

It's a common assumption that driving can be too much for autistic people. The unpredictability of traffic and the demands of driving can put a toll on people with autism and could endanger them and others around them. A virtual reality game, however, is focusing on this issue by helping people with autism learn how to drive safely in the real world.

Nilanjan Sarkar, a computer and mechanical engineer at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, is developing virtual reality programs specifically aimed to help people in the autism spectrum. With the virtual reality programs, autistic individuals can practice the quick-reaction skills that driving entails, STAT News reported.

The virtual reality driving simulation features a stoplight, a steering wheel to navigate roads, and pedestrians crossing streets. According to Sarkar, this stimulation identifies the mistakes autistic people would commit and how they can correct those wrongs. An upside of this is stimulation occurs entirely in a controlled environment and no one will be harmed as would-be drivers attempt to learn.

Virtual reality, no matter how promising, still doesn't compare to the real world. VR headgear isn't being used yet in Sarkar's driving simulation, and so a person's peripheral vision doesn't function the way it should when driving on real roads.

Janet Murphy, a case manager at the autism boarding program Boston Higashi School, said computer screens don't equate with the real-life anxieties and stress that driving and social interaction bring. Murphy added that being physically out in the world is more beneficial for people with autism learning how to drive, though virtual reality programs can prepare them for that as well.

A research team from the University of Haifa, Israel has developed a virtual reality program that teaches children with autism how to cross a road in various scenarios, the Virtual Reality Society reported. Another virtual reality program developed in the United States helps improve the social attention of kids with autism.

Through a head-mounted display (HMD), the program shows a virtual classroom filled with school children individually delivering presentations. The virtual people or avatars fade if the autistic child looks away and loses focus.

The Virtual Reality Social Cognition Training program also teaches social skills to young adults with autism spectrum disorder. The virtual reality program led by Dr. Daniel Yang, an Autism Speaks Meixner post-doctoral fellow, trains autistic young adults with the use of dancing triangles. The participants would determine which of the triangles are interacting and which ones are just moving randomly, according to Autism Speaks.