Lived Experiences of People With & Without Disabilities Across the Life Span on Autonomous Shuttles

Autonomous shuttle (AS) ride-sharing services may be additional community mobility options for people with and without disabilities throughout their adult lifespan. Qualifying such adults' perceptions of AS is important to identify barriers and facilitators associated with AS acceptance practices. This study summarizes and compares the qualitative data obtained from older adults [n=104; 65+age], younger and middle-aged adults [n=106; 18-64 of age], and people with disabilities [PwD; n=42] after their exposure to an AS. 252 participants' perceptions were collected via a pre-post exposure Automated Vehicle User Perception Survey (AVUPS). Four open-ended questions asked (a) factors that would increase their willingness to use AVs, (b) factors that would discourage them from using AVs, (c) potential benefits of using AVs, and (d) potential disadvantages of using AVs. The older adult's data were analyzed using conventional content analysis, and data from other groups were analyzed using directed content analysis. Seven common themes were identified from 1,571 responses, with inclusion criteria set at a minimum response frequency of 10. The emergent themes encompassed safety, ease of use, cost, availability, aging, AV information, and experience with AV. Among older adults, the top three themes with the highest frequencies were safety (n=195), ease of use (n=93), and cost (n=83). For younger and middle-aged adults, safety (n=221), ease of use (n=105), and experience with AV (n=64) constituted the primary concerns. PwD emphasized safety (n=69), ease of use (n=46), and availability (n=32) as their top three themes. Notably, safety and ease of use emerged as predominant concerns across all groups. The responses captured both positive and negative aspects of autonomous shuttle experiences. This information is critical to enhancing deployment strategies for industry, advocates, and policymakers to ensure that AS can ubiquitously be used as a viable mode for community mobility.