- July 21st, 2020
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Carnegie Mellon’s Mobility21 University Transportation Center and the Human-Computer Interaction Institute are looking to collaborate with members and advocates of the disability community and representatives of paratransit organizations to form a joint team and advisory group to submit a proposal for the US Department of Transportation’s Inclusive Design Challenge.
The stated goal of the challenge is: “… to seek solutions to improve passenger vehicle accessibility, encourage cross-disciplinary collaborations, incentivize the development of new designs and technologies, and tap into the creativity and knowledge of the disability community, researchers, advocates, and entrepreneurs.”
Our goal is to form a diverse team of stakeholders interested in proposing and developing ways to improve the accessibility of autonomous vehicles. We plan to host a series of collaborative, online workshops with community members to develop a proposal to submit to the challenge on October 30th, 2020.
These workshops will focus on developing solutions for people with physical, sensory, and/or cognitive disabilities to use autonomous vehicles independently. The Inclusive Design Challenge lists the following areas of interest:
- Locating an Automated Driving System-dedicated vehicle (ADS-DV)
- Entering an ADS-DV
- Securing passengers and mobility equipment
- Inputting information
- Interacting with the ADS in routine and emergency situations
- Exiting an ADS-DV
We are looking for broad community participation and welcome hearing from:
- Community members and advocates of the disability community who want to share their experiences and guide the team’s development
- Representatives of municipalities, mobility, and paratransit service providers in the greater Pittsburgh area and neighboring rural communities (roughly 100 miles)
- People interested in designing and building new solutions for making autonomous cars more accessible
We have three ways you can get involved with increasing levels of commitment.
- Tell us about your experiences and share your ideas: Share your experiences with current forms of transport, your hopes and concerns for autonomous vehicles, and any ideas you might have over a phone call, video conferencing, or email.
- Join our advisory committee: Participate in quarterly advisory meetings, help define the project strategy, and stay up-to-date with project progress.
- Join the proposal team: Help directly shape our proposed solution, plan and participate in community meetings, and write a research proposal.
Please reach out to us at idc-team@andrew.cmu.edu if you would like to be involved or fill out our intro survey here.
The first community meeting is expected to be hosted in early August.
