A new study by researchers from the MIT AgeLab finds that drivers of Tesla cars tend to be more distracted when using the car’s semi-autonomous system, reports Matt McFarland for CNN. The researchers found “drivers glanced more frequently away from the road, and thus paid less attention, when Autopilot was active.”
Writing for Forbes, research engineer Bryan Reimer explores a question that will be included on election ballots in Massachusetts that “proposes to augment the state’s 2013 Automobile Right to Repair Law with new added vehicle data access requirements.” Reimer argues that the provisions in the ballot initiative are “ripe for cyber terrorism that could quickly place vehicle occupants and other road users at increased risk.”
Writing for Forbes, AgeLab director Joseph Coughlin examines the impact of the increasing number of adult children who are living with their parents. “This evolving trend is not just about the changing definition of young adulthood, it is also about the changing definition of life stages across the life course, including retirement,” writes Coughlin.
As part of a SHOOKtalks session, Joseph Coughlin, director of the AgeLab, discusses how the pandemic has altered the way financial advisors work with clients, reports R.J. Shook for Forbes. “The one thing COVID did is it pushed technology into our lives,” says Coughlin. “It is not a novelty. COVID showed us that technology actually adds new value.”
Writing for Forbes, Joseph Coughlin, director of the AgeLab, explores how services such as meal kits and delivery apps appeal to younger and older consumers. “Innovations developed to respond to the demands of what, on the surface, appears to be distinctly younger lifestyles may, in fact, be both a market opportunity for business and an emerging critical resource to support older consumers,” writes Coughlin.
New Yorker reporter Adam Gopnick visits the MIT AgeLab to explore how researchers are developing new technologies aimed at improving the quality of life for people as they age. “Now that we’re living longer, how do we plan for what we’re going to do?” says AgeLab Director Joseph Coughlin of the lab’s mission.
In an article for Forbes, Joseph Coughlin, director of the AgeLab, provides tips for adult children planning to have difficult conversations with their parents about such topics as driving and housing. “Hanging up the keys or leaving the family home often places two sets of critical values at odds – freedom versus safety,” writes Coughlin.
Writing for Forbes, AgeLab Director Joseph Coughlin examines the importance of retirement planning, based off of a recent conversation he had with a Lyft driver. “Today’s retirement planning story must also add several chapters of imaginative, yet realistic, planning that go well beyond financial security and goal-setting alone,” writes Coughlin.
Joseph Coughlin, director of the AgeLab, writes for Forbes examines how new technologies could help people follow-through their New Year’s resolutions. Coughlin writes that marketing innovations that leverage “behavioral science insights are emerging to help with sustained behavioral change.”
Inc. has named Boston to its list of the 50 best places in America for starting a business thanks to the MIT AgeLab’s work developing a “Silicon Valley for the octogenarian set.” Inc. notes that the AgeLab has helped spawn “a cluster of age-tech startups launching products like wireless headphones (Eversound) and virtual reality headsets (Rendever) that are optimized for seniors.”
Joseph Coughlin, director of the AgeLab, writes for Quartz about ways that new technologies can be used to make aging more fun for today’s seniors. “By investing in such uncharted aspects of the longevity economy now, we may pave the way for ourselves to live longer, better—and perhaps with a smile,” writes Coughlin.
Writing for Forbes, research engineer Bryan Reimer examines how success can be measured as automated vehicles are introduced to our transportation system. “While automation may be the future,” writes Reimer, “the enabling technologies we are seeing today are pieces of a complex puzzle being assembled to build a picture of how automation will change the future of how we live and move.”
Joseph Coughlin, director of the AgeLab, writes for Barron’s about how senior citizens are becoming an increasingly dominant consumer market. “Older consumers will no longer put up with companies that address only basic physiological or safety needs,” writes Coughlin. “New demands in the older market are arising from higher-level drives, such as goals, aspirations, aesthetic preferences, social needs, and talents.”
Writing for The Wall Street Journal, Dr. Joseph Coughlin, director of the AgeLab, writes that smart technologies and on-demand services could allow seniors to stay in their own homes. Coughlin notes that the freedom the connected home provides for choosing services, “is an enormous benefit not only for older adults’ wallets, but for their own sense of independence and personal control.”
In an article for Forbes, research engineer Bryan Reimer ponders how the integration of self-driving vehicles into our transportation system will evolve. “As we strive to automate, risks must be appropriately balanced with the benefits, much like how they are when it comes to the use of lifesaving drugs with known side effects,” concludes Reimer.