SCC-CIVIC-PG Track B: Community Informed AI-Based System for Driver Training to Advance Neurodiverse Independence and Employment

到2022年，大约7万名患有自闭症的年轻人将从高中毕业，他们将面临一系列令人沮丧的统计数据，包括独立生活、社区参与和就业。成年自闭症患者将就业视为他们最关心的问题。自闭症患者获得工作机会的主要障碍是缺乏交通独立性；只有不到三分之一的驾龄自闭症患者有驾驶执照，而更多的人经过适当的培训就有驾驶能力。该项目提供了一个社区驱动的规划过程，探索一个专门为神经多样性个体设计的先进的基于人工智能的驾驶训练（AIDT）系统的原型，以及建立在驾驶认知行为干预基础上的课程，如何为社区提供有效的解决方案，帮助有能力的自闭症个体成为有执照的司机。他们对自己的驾驶能力有信心，能够更充分地参与社区生活。这个第一阶段的项目旨在计划与多种类型的公民合作伙伴和支持提供者（包括社区培训中心和诊所、学校等）进行全面的试点部署，以建立一个有效、低成本、可商业化的驾驶指导平台，其价值主张是为自闭症患者提供更多的独立性和更多的职业选择。AIDT原型已经在田纳西州的纳什维尔和加利福尼亚州的圣地亚哥进行了测试和演示。这项计划拨款的研究将涉及一大批公民实体，参与社区参与、混合方法的定量和定性数据收集过程，以确定在AIDT系统中解决的重要背景决定因素，并构建培训协议，为在职业康复、临床服务和教育场所进行第二阶段试点部署做准备。该项目希望了解如何使AIDT系统适应与利益相关者社区相关的多种就业环境和多种就业结果，如何使AIDT输出响应社区服务提供者对最大可用性和最低培训需求的需求，以及如何为其长期维持和增长提供资金。这个项目是对公民创新挑战项目的回应——轨道b——弥合基本资源和服务与社区需求之间的差距，是国家科学基金会、国土安全部和能源部之间的合作项目。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。

In 2022, approximately 70,000 young adults with autism will leave high school and face a litany of disheartening statistics regarding independent living, community participation, and employment. Adults with autism rate employment as their top concern. A major impediment for autistic individuals to access work opportunities specifically is lack of independence with transportation; fewer than a third of driving-age individuals with autism are licensed to drive while many more are capable with the right training. This project offers a community-driven planning process to explore how a prototype of an advanced artificial-intelligence-based driving-training (AIDT) system, specifically designed for neurodiverse individuals, that together with a curriculum built on a cognitive behavioral intervention for driving, can offer an effective solution for communities to help capable autistic individual become licensed drivers, who are confident in their driving ability and able to more fully participate in community life.This Stage-1 project seeks to plan for a full pilot deployment with multiple types of civic partners and support providers – including community-based training centers and clinics, schools, and others – toward an effective, low-cost, commercializable, driving-instruction platform, with a value proposition that offers increased independence and expanded career options for individuals with autism. An AIDT prototype has been tested and demonstrated in Nashville, Tennessee, and San Diego, California. The research in this Planning Grant will involve a large group of civic entities in a community-engaged, mixed methods quantitative and qualitative data collection process to identify context determinants that are important to address within the AIDT system and in constructing a training protocol in preparation for Stage-2 pilot deployment across vocational rehabilitation, clinical services and education sites. The project expects to learn how to make the AIDT system adaptable to use within multiple employment contexts and multiple employment outcomes of relevance to stakeholder communities, how to make the AIDT outputs responsive to community service providers’ needs for maximal useability and minimal training demands, and how to finance its long-term sustainment and growth. This project is in response to the Civic Innovation Challenge program — Track B. Bridging the gap between essential resources and services & community needs — and is a collaboration between NSF, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Energy.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.