Understanding the changes needed in the current existing technology for making autonomous vehicles more accesible to users that are blind, deaf or deaf-blind

Abstract

Accessibility and autonomous vehicles are popular and highly talked about topics as the issue of accessibility for people with disabilities is becoming relevant for business. Despite people with disabilities being regarded as "early adopters", there is a lack of testing and surveys during the design process relating to these target users. The potential of autonomous vehicles for the target group users are explored in this thesis, as well as the potential limitations or possibilities that would emerge when the driver is removed. In this Master Thesis, multiple studies with different methods are used: expert reviews, usability testing, qualitative interviews and field observations. The findings from these studies indicate that there are many areas or functionalities (multi-mode for communication, emergency handling, proper alerts and notifications, customized services/information, accessible buttons or elements) that need to be focused on when developing and designing accessible autonomous vehicles in the future. Additionally, this thesis evaluates the limitations and possibilities of vibro-tactile guiding aids in helping the target users when tested in the context of the use of an autonomous vehicle. The results indicate that the vibro-tactile aids are highly helpful to users, especially users who are blind or visually-impaired, but less for the users who are deaf. The aid needs to have a communication line with the autonomous vehicle and should also support different modes of communication.