A common narrative around connected and autonomous vehicles (AVs) is their potential to improve mobility and inclusivity for the community. However, development in AVs has mainly focused on vehicle navigation and electronics, whereas accessibility for diverse user groups and their needs has received less focus.
The Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) partnered with the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) to develop principles for an accessible AV for the Australian market. Finding from end-user surveys, expert workshops, data review, and benchmarking studies, resulted in five major themes identified: Communication, Stress, Independence, Safety, and Interface, each consisting of multiple interconnected sub-topics. Significant sub-topics include seating, restraints, configurability, controls, storage, anthropometrics, visibility, wayfinding / route navigation, and assistance through automation. Impactful limiting factors identified include infrastructure, barriers, risks, regulation, and cost.
These major themes and sub-topics along with the corresponding gained knowledge from the study was used to design and built a full-scale static AV prototype, incorporating identified accessibility and usability principles. This will be used for testing with end-users and domain experts to refine the accessible AV design and defined design principles.
This presentation will:
- provide an overview of work undertaken across all three phases including the literature review, data review, user surveys, expert workshops, benchmarking and concept design.
- discuss the approach for designing and constructing the scale prototype and methodology for user and expert testing of the 1:1 scale prototype,
- explore the future recommendations emerging from the research surrounding design requirements for future AV manufactured for the Australian market.
