Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 19, 2025
Tactile Vibrating Toolkit and Driving Simulation Platform for Driving-Related Research
Published on: December 18, 2020
Accessible autonomous transportation and services: a focus group study
Sivashankar Sivakanthan1,2, Rosemarie Cooper1,2, Celia Lopes1,3,4
1Human Engineering Research Laboratories, VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System and University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
Purpose:
Existing automated vehicle transportation guidelines and regulations have minimal guidance to address the specific needs of people with disabilities. Accessibility should be at the forefront to increase autonomy and independence for people with disabilities. The purpose of this research is to better understand potential facilitators and barriers to using accessible autonomous transportation.
Methods:
Focus groups were conducted with key stakeholders derived from people with disabilities (n = 5), travel companions/caregivers (n = 5), and transportation experts or designers (n = 11).
Results:
The themes include describing stakeholder perceptions across all three groups by identified themes: autonomous vehicle assistive technology, autonomy vs automation, cost, infrastructure, safety & liability, design challenges, and potential impact.
Conclusion:
Specific gaps and needs were identified regarding barriers and facilitators for transportation accessibility and evidence-based guidance. These specific gaps can help to formulate design criteria for the communication between, the interior and exterior of accessible autonomous vehicles.
