Driving Behaviour Profile of Drivers with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

Chee et al. (2017) watched licensed drivers with autism drive real cars on real roads. They compared every turn, lane change, and stop to neurotypical drivers doing the same route.

The team scored manoeuvring skill and rule-following live, not on a computer. They wanted to see which parts of driving are harder for autistic adults once they already have a license.

ASD drivers handled the wheel and timed merges less smoothly. They hesitated more and needed extra prompts for tricky turns.

Yet they broke traffic rules less often. They stayed closer to speed limits and stopped more fully at signs than the comparison group.

Sawyer et al. (2014) asked ASD drivers to fill out surveys and reported more crashes and tickets. The new on-road scores show the same group can follow rules well, so the extra tickets may come from social clashes with officers, not poor rule knowledge.

Eussen et al. (2016) ran teens with ASD through a simulator while they did a memory game. Extra thinking load hurt their driving most. Y’s real-road data match this: complex manoeuvres, which also load the brain, are the weak spot.

Anthony et al. (2020) tested brand-new drivers and saw big simulator errors plus high anxiety. Y’s licensed sample shows that, after some miles, anxiety drops and rule-following stays strong, but manoeuvres still lag. Practice helps, yet specific manoeuvre training is still needed.

If you support autistic teens or adults, put the training time into lane changes, roundabouts, and parking, not endless stop-sign drills. Use empty lots then quiet roads, and cue one step at a time. Celebrate clean merges; the rule-following is already there.