Biggest Market for Self-Driving Cars: the Elderly?

Baby Boomers, the oldest of whom are moving into their late 60s, could become a huge market for self-driving cars, according to speakers at a Tokyo conference about intelligent transportation.

Japan appears likely to become the first test case, Bloomberg News says. It cites government data indicating that the proportion of the country's citizens who are at least 65 years old will surge from 24% in 2012 to 40% by 2060.

That group accounted for 51% of traffic fatalities in Japan last year, according National Policy Agency statistics cited by the news service.

In the U.S., only 16% of U.S. licensed drivers are 65 or older, and they account for about the same proportion of traffic fatalities. U.S. Census Bureau data show that America's percentage of 65-and-older citizens will grow from 13% in 2010 to 20% by 2050.

Analyst Zhou Lei with Deloitte Tohmatsu Consulting Co. points out that driver assist and self-driving systems can help the elderly feel safer about taking to the roads. He tells Bloomberg that demand for such capabilities by seniors will be "huge" in the U.S. and emerging markets such as China.