IAV GmbH conducted four focus groups in Chemnitz, Germany, to gather insights on public transport accessibility and challenges for driverless public transport. Three sessions were held at IAV’s Chemnitz premises and one was conducted online. The groups included 15 participants (8 male, 7 female) aged 24 to 75, comprising of individuals who are blind, wheelchair users, public transport operators, senior citizens, and tourists (as these individual form part of the OptiPEx user groups).
Discussions focused on three aspects of using public transport: boarding public transport, behaviour in exceptional situations, and optimizing passenger distribution, with an emphasis on the impact of driverless vehicles. An overview of these answers is reported below:
Key Scenarios Discussed:
- Boarding a Public Transport Vehicle:
- Challenges: Ticketing systems, structural design, and accessibility features.
- Solutions: Unified ticketing, standardized procedures, elimination of steps, acoustic announcements, color-coded doors, and a communication system with a control centre.
- Behaviour in Exceptional Situations / Anomaly Detection:
- Safety Measures: Unified emergency system, clear emergency buttons, alternative communication methods, and standardized emergency procedures.
- Essential: Clear and understandable announcements, both visual and audible.
- Optimizing Passenger Distribution:
- Solutions: Space display systems, color-coded indicators, a unified app for occupancy information, automated buses recognizing passenger movements, and announcements directing passengers to available spaces.
These focus groups provided valuable insights which OptiPEx will use to improve public transport. The results will be used to help OptiPEx design solutions to enhance accessibility, provide additional ways of communication in case of onboarding, emergencies etc. and develop a passenger distribution system
