CRII: CHS: Understanding and Supporting the Use of Self-Driving Vehicles by Persons with Visual Disabilities

完全自主或“自动驾驶”车辆的出现可能被证明是过去一个世纪个人移动性最重大的演变。据设想，最先进的此类车辆将在最少的人机交互下运行，不需要人类直接驾驶。通过最大限度地减少人类在驾驶过程中经常出错的作用，车辆碰撞可能会大大减少，从而每年挽救数万人的生命和数百万美元的财产。虽然这项技术可能对整个社会都是突破性的，但自动驾驶汽车可能对那些盲人或因残疾而无法驾驶传统机动车辆的人特别有益。尽管自动驾驶技术在这方面有着巨大的前景，但美国许多盲人和视障人士的倡导者认为，这项技术的设计没有充分考虑视障人士的需求，导致其使用可能成为无障碍障碍。该项目旨在通过研究视障人士在实际使用自动驾驶汽车时可能遇到的无障碍障碍，以及通过基础研究找到这些问题的解决方案，来解决这一问题。该项目的目标是创建一个互动模型，以支持视障人士使用自动驾驶汽车技术。遵循以用户为中心的包容性设计过程，该研究将特别寻求理解：(a)自动驾驶汽车人机界面目前如何在实验车辆中实现；(b)视障人士如何设想他们与自动驾驶车辆的互动；(c)视障人士在相关的交通即服务技术方面面临哪些无障碍挑战；(d)可以开发哪些类型的新型自动驾驶汽车用户界面、交互方式和工具，以支持视障人士的最佳可用性和可访问性。该项目最终将评估参与式设计会议中开发的无障碍自动驾驶汽车界面原型。项目成果将通过技术和工具的开发来进一步理解听觉、动觉、有形和情感界面，以支持主要是非视觉性质的人机交互。该项目还将进一步研究支持可访问和通用设计的基础过程。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The emergence of fully autonomous or "self-driving" vehicles may prove to be the most significant evolution in personal mobility of the past century. It is envisioned that the most advanced of such vehicles will operate with minimal human interaction and no direct human driving. By minimizing the role of often error-prone human beings in the driving process, vehicle crashes may be reduced significantly, thus saving tens of thousands of lives annually and untold millions of dollars in property. While this technology is potentially ground breaking for society broadly, self-driving vehicles may prove especially beneficial for those who are blind or who cannot otherwise operate conventional motor vehicles due to their disability. Despite the tremendous promise of self-driving technology in this regard, advocates of the many blind and visually impaired persons in the United States argue that the needs of visually impaired persons are not being adequately considered in the design of the technology, resulting in what may become accessibility barriers to its use. The PI seeks to address this issue through research that will explore the potential accessibility barriers encountered by visually impaired persons in their practical use of a self-driving vehicle, and through fundamental research that will derive solutions to these problems. The goal of this project is to produce a model of interaction that will support the use of self-driving vehicle technology by visually impaired persons. Following a user-centered inclusive design process the research will specifically seek to understand: (a) how self-driving vehicle human-machine interfaces are presently implemented in experimental vehicles; (b) how visually impaired persons envision their interactions with self-driving vehicles; (c) what accessibility challenges are faced by visually impaired persons in related Transportation-as-a-Service technologies; and (d) what types of novel self-driving vehicle user interfaces, interaction modalities and tools can be developed to support optimal usability and accessibility for visually impaired persons. The project will culminate with evaluation of accessible self-driving vehicle interface prototypes developed in participatory design sessions. Project outcomes will further the understanding of auditory, kinesthetic, tangible and affective interfaces through the development of techniques and tools to support human-machine interaction that is primarily non-visual in nature. The project will also further science regarding underlying processes that support accessible and universal design.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.