Inclusive Design Challenge

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Inclusive Design Challenge focused on innovative design solutions to enable people with physical, sensory, and cognitive disabilities to use automated driving systems (ADS) to access jobs, healthcare, and other critical destinations.

The Challenge sought solutions to improve passenger vehicle accessibility, encourage cross-disciplinary collaborations, incentivize development of new designs and technologies, and tap into the creativity and knowledge of the disability community, researchers, advocates, and entrepreneurs.

Finalists have been selected for Stage II prizes, concluding the Challenge competition. Meet the winners and read about their projects!

Solutions to Common Barriers

The Challenge invited teams to compete for a $5 million prize purse across two stages of competition by developing hardware and/or software solutions aimed to address barriers for people with physical, sensory, and cognitive disabilities including:

Locating an ADS-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

Meet the Prize Recipients

Purdue University

Efficient, Accessible and Safe Interaction in a Real Integrated Design Environment for Riders with disabilities (EASI RIDER)

First Prize – $1,000,000 + $300,000 Semifinalist Prize

The team developed a life-sized, operational demonstration platform known as the Efficient, Accessible and Safe Interaction in a Real Integrated Design Environment for Riders with disabilities (EASI RIDER). The vehicle contained an in-floor ADS-DV ramp design, an automatically deploying “Smart Ramp,” an automated wheelchair securement system, and an on-board user-interface that will provide accessibility features that cater to people with a wide range of disabilities.

Update

Since winning the Inclusive Design Challenge, the Purdue University team has continued to engage with stakeholders in the automotive industry, state government, and research entities. The team is working to establish the Center for Inclusive Design for Future Transportation at Purdue to house their future research, which will move beyond the static vehicle platform developed during the Challenge to include the additional considerations needed when a vehicle is put on the road. Team member Brad Duerstock has been named to Cruise’s Accessibility Council. Team member Brandon Pitts recently received the National Science Foundation’s CAREER award for a project focused on developing adaptive human-automation interfaces for older adults.

Project Contact: Brad Duerstock

Project Website: https://engineering.purdue.edu/DuerstockIAS/research/EASIRIDER

AbleLink Smart Living Technologies

WayFinder ADS – Enabling Independent Use of Autonomous Vehicles by Individuals with Cognitive Disabilities and others with Special Needs

Second Prize – $700,000 + $300,000 Semifinalist Prize

The research team laid the foundation for accessibility by developing the WayFinder ADS system, a comprehensive mobile application designed to support independent access to ADS-DVs by individuals with cognitive disabilities and others with special needs. A WayFinder ADS Dashboard was developed to allow caregivers to set up secure connections to companies providing reservation access to ADS-DVs. The module provides the opportunity to set pre-determined destinations for the user. The overall goal is to provide cognitively accessible interfaces and app navigation features, and to reduce the overall cognitive load associated with interacting with an ADS-DV.

Update

AbleLink has continued to collaborate with their various project partners and several capabilities prototyped during their Inclusive Design Challenge project have moved from prototype to deployment. A key enhancement to the WayFinder Ride ecosystem is a cognitively accessible learning management system designed for self-directed use by individuals with cognitive disabilities. This transportation training system is now in use throughout the state of Tennessee. In addition, the currently deployed WayFinder application has been enhanced with features developed during the Challenge such as accessible picture-based communications, an integrated live map, and other enhancements to provide more information to travelers with a wide range of cognitive disabilities. The team is exploring collaborations to use their system to facilitate micro-transit deployments in multiple states through use of automated shuttles by individuals with disabilities to access the community more independently.

Project Contact: Dan Davies
Project Website: https://www.ablelinktech.com

University of Maine

Autonomous Vehicle Assistant (Ava): Ride-hailing and localization for the future of accessible mobility

Third Prize – $300,000 + $300,000 Semifinalist Prize

This team developed “Ava”, the Autonomous Vehicle Assistant, an innovative ride-hailing, and localization smartphone application designed to seamlessly assist passengers with visual impairment and older adults during pre-journey planning, travel to pick-up locations, and vehicle entry. Ava uses innovative human-machine interfaces and technologies such as GPS and computer vision to help users find and ultimately arrive at an ADS-DV safely. The initial rollout of Ava’s training modules can be fully deployed and utilized via users’ existing smartphones, representing a cost-effective and timely solution to the problem of trust in automated vehicles.

Update

The University of Maine team has used the data collected during their Inclusive Design Challenge project to update their system and move into new areas of research. The team’s Challenge project focused on navigating to a vehicle, and their future work will include what happens within the vehicle and during the rest of a trip. The team recently completed a full-motion simulator of an automated shuttle, and are working on a second simulator focused on longer periods of travel. The Challenge has led to collaboration with the automotive industry, multiple conference publications, and a patent. New paths for the team's research include the preliminary development of the Vehicle Research Organization of Maine (VROoM), an advanced human-centered engineering design facility for automated vehicle research.