Communication and mobility issues of visually impaired pedestrians with connected autonomous vehicles

ABSTRACT

This paper presents an econometric modelling framework to unravel the communication and mobility issues of visually impaired pedestrians in the context of connected autonomous vehicles (CAVs). The research uses a dataset collected through a tailor-made stated-preference survey given to visually impaired pedestrians and provides evidence-based recommendations on communication techniques. The recommendations are based on the findings of a structural equation model (SEM) estimated using the survey data. The latent factors ‘safety and security’ and ‘importance of hearing’ are generated using a confirmatory factor analysis embedded in the SEM. The results from the model show that these two factors have negative influences on how much a visually impaired pedestrian trusts the use of CAVs.

KEYWORDS:

• Connected autonomous vehicles (CAVs)
• visually impaired pedestrians
• communication techniques

Acknowledgements

The study was partially funded through a research contract between the University of Toronto and the Canadian National Institute for the Blinds (CNIB). Transport Canada provided funding for this research contract through its Advance Connectivity and Automation in Transportation System (ACATS) funding programme. However, the views and interpretations are of the authors only.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethics approval

This survey is reviewed the approved by the University of Toronto’s office of the vice-president, research, and innovation. RIS Human Protocol Number is 36840.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by CNIB; Howard University Start up grant.