Abstract: This talk presents a retrospective discussion of the goals, methods, outcomes, and lessons learned from the CATM Vulnerable Road User Mobility Assistance Platform (VRU-MAP) project, a novel effort to conceptualize and develop a navigation solution directed toward the needs of people with disabilities (PWD). PWD represent about 15% of the world’s population and disproportionately face barriers to transportation—a critical component to daily life—relative to people without disabilities. One barrier to transportation is the lack of dedicated pedestrian navigation solutions; while smartphones and other GPS implementations have made walking directions from location to location nearly universally obtainable, these generally do not provide routing that takes into account an individual user’s capabilities and needs. In this project, the team identified the most pressing transportation and navigation-related needs for people with a wide range of disabilities and used these as a foundation to conceptualize and prototype a pedestrian navigation application that integrates personal capabilities, needs, and limitations with external information to provide real-time, personalized routing.

Dr. Justin Owens is a senior behavioral research scientist specializing in vulnerable road user safety at the UNC Highway Safety Research Center. Justin has been conducting human factors research surrounding VRU safety issues for over 20 years, with focus on safe mobility for pedestrians, seniors, and people with disabilities. Prior to joining HSRC, Justin spent 15 years at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute. He earned his doctorate in cognitive science from Brown University and his masters in human factors psychology from Clemson University.