Mobility challenges and perceptions of autonomous vehicles for individuals with physical disabilities

Individuals with physical disabilities face many challenges, especially with mobility. Transportation plays a key role in an individual's health as it provides the access to critical services such as medical visits. Autonomous vehicles (AVs) can be one possible solution to increase transportation accessibility. However, there is currently limited information detailing the obstacles individuals with disabilities face when it comes to mobility, or research regarding perceptions of this population toward autonomous vehicles.

The goals of this study were twofold: 1) to identify the accessibility needs associated with transportation for individuals with a physical disability and 2) to understand the initial perceptions of this population towards autonomous vehicles to meet these needs.

A survey with multiple choice and short-answer questions was developed to gather data on transportation issues and experiences from individuals with physical disabilities. This survey was distributed to disability networks.

Our results illustrate the many challenges that individuals with physical disabilities experience related to transportation, such as cost, time for planning, and convenience of use. We also found that individuals with physical disabilities had an overall positive attitude towards AVs and would be willing to pay the same price as private transportation or possibly more to use AVs if it had the proper accessibility and safety features.

Overall, this work can be used to inform decisions surrounding accessibility of current transportation as well as guide the planning and design of autonomous vehicles for a population with physical disabilities.