VW's goal: AVs usable by those with disabilities

Mobility for disabled people is a major potential benefit of Level 5 autonomy, perhaps second only to a collision-free transportation system.

But while fully autonomous vehicles for the masses may be decades away, Volkswagen Group has launched an effort to ensure that people with disabilities can benefit.

VW has teamed with advocacy groups for people with disabilities to ensure that their needs are accommodated as autonomous vehicles are designed.

Last month, VW hosted an initial meeting in Washington between its in-house design teams and representatives of groups including the National Federation of the Blind, Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund and National Association of the Deaf. The first topic: how to make autonomous vehicles accessible to wheelchairs, as well as how to properly secure those wheelchairs.

Roughly an eighth of the U.S. population has a disability, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. A 2017 white paper funded by the Ruderman Family Foundation on the impact of autonomous driving on disabled people estimated that the technology could open employment opportunities for up to 2 million people with disabilities and save up to $19 billion annually in health care costs from missed medical appointments.

Kelly Buckland doesn't need a white paper to explain the particulars. He is executive director of the National Council on Independent Living, one of several advocacy groups working with VW on the issue, and he uses a power wheelchair daily.

"This is a long-standing problem, but it becomes even more important with autonomous vehicles," Buckland said this month in an interview. "With all the sensors and things needed for autonomous vehicles, unless it comes wheelchair accessible, I can't take it somewhere to make it wheelchair accessible. We think it's impactive that, if the industry is going to make autonomous vehicles, you have to make it wheelchair accessible from the get-go."

The onset of electrified vehicles presents an added challenge, and an opportunity for broader mobility options, for those who use wheelchairs.

While the vehicles' skateboard design and flat load floor may be more easily configured to accommodate a wheelchair, the floor-mounted battery packs mean added floor height, making it more difficult for someone in a wheelchair to enter or exit.

It's just one of numerous challenges, including how to secure the wheelchair in the vehicle and how to secure the passenger in the chair in a way that meets federal safety standards. Designers also have to allow for wheelchair users to be able to operate the vehicle manually.

A team of vehicle engineers, designers and researchers at VW's advanced user-experience studio in Belmont, Calif., is leading the automaker's study.

"It's definitely going to take collaboration between OEMs, advocacy groups, wheelchair manufacturers and securement providers to make sure that whatever we develop is an effective and safe solution," said Shani Jayant, principal user experience designer for Volkswagen Group of America, who's working on the mobility project.

Jayant said VW designers in California started looking at the issue in late 2017, and quickly realized they needed specialized consulting.

"There are many other disability groups we're working with. I think it's just important that we have everyone at the table from Day One to make sure that solutions for one group aren't in conflict with solutions for another group," she said. "I think it's going to be an ongoing process. We're still in the early stages of design."

The effort has support from the highest levels within the automaker.

"Transportation is the key to full participation in society," Scott Keogh, CEO of Volkswagen Group of America, said in a written statement. "And for individuals with disabilities today, the options can be limited. Volkswagen is known as the people's car company, and as the technology allows, we want to design vehicles that are more accessible."