Comparing Powered Wheelchair Driving Characteristics of Real Driving and Two Types of Simulated Driving

We aimed to gather evidence on the feasibility of using simulator-based driving assessments for prescribing powered mobility devices (PMDs). Therefore, we compared the driving characteristics of real driving and two types of simulated driving. Thirty participants with difficulty walking more than 100 meters independently were enrolled. We developed a full-cabin and desktop simulator and created driving scenarios that closely resembled a real driving route in a park. They participated in three separate driving sessions, each using a powered wheelchair, full-cabin simulator, and desktop simulator. The driving characteristics, such as driving distance, mean speed, and standard deviation (SD) of speed, were obtained and analyzed to assess differences and correlations. Statistically significant differences were found in the driving distance and the SD of speed, respectively. However, for the mean speed, there was no statistically significant difference among the three types of driving. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for the driving distance was 0.154, which was not statistically significant. However, for mean speed, the ICC was 0.752, indicating a strong correlation. The ICC for the SD of speed was 0.562, indicating a moderate correlation. We demonstrated that the two types of simulators have characteristics that are similar to real-world driving characteristics. The mean speed showed the highest similarity, and the SD of the speed showed a moderate degree of similarity. These results highlight the significant potential of employing simulator-based driving to evaluate the use of PMDs.