Development and Evaluation of Technology and Safety Supports for Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities to Independently Use Driverless and Driver Supported Ridehailing Services

Development and Evaluation of Technology and Safety Supports for Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities to Independently Use Driverless and Driver Supported Ridehailing Services Project Summary/Abstract It is a well-documented fact that people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), continue to experience great disparities in access to transportation resources. The emergence of ridesharing services such as Uber, Lyft, and future driverless vehicles are only increasing these transportation disparities: Thirty years after the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, people with disabilities still face significant barriers to transportation access. In recent years, new transportation services known as “new mobility,” or “emerging mobility” launched entirely without accessible options. These services include transportation network companies (TNCs) such as Lyft and Uber, bike share, scooter share, and car share…disabled people in San Francisco see promise in some new mobility services but currently face significant barriers to use. Out of all new mobility options, respondents were most interested in on- demand automobile access, e.g., accessible TNCs or accessible taxis. (Ruvolo, 2021) The available research specifically on transportation and intellectual and developmental disability (IDD) is limited but still illustrative of the significant transportation disparities they face, due largely to their functional limitations in the very areas that public transit most often requires (Friedman and Rizzolo, 2016). As a result, people with IDD are disproportionally dependent on paratransit services which are very costly to provide, require 24 hours or longer notice, are limited in range, are not integrated with the general population, and are very costly to provide. The impact of these disparities in transportation access affects virtually all areas of community life. The development of ride sharing services provided by TNCs have expanded options for many people with and without disabilities, but this adoption has largely left out the population of individuals with IDD. This project proposes development and evaluation of a universally designed app and web-based tools to support independent access to ridesharing services by individuals with IDD, including driverless vehicles. The WayFinder Rideshare system will benefit from previous peer-reviewed research and will address the safety and security concerns that have historically limited this population’s use of transportation options. The system will use a Smart Trip List approach to support pre-population of all aspects of requesting and taking a specific ridesharing trip, such that the end user only need to tap a picture of a desired destination and confirm the selection via audio, image, and text presentation. Safety features will include adaptation of AbleLink’s remote tracking system and emergency help features, along with other supports identified during the requirements development process. Phase I will conclude with an accessibility and usability study of the prototype as compared to Uber and Lyft rideshare apps, and Phase II will include a full implementation field study to determine efficacy and improvements.