An Emergent Design Framework for Accessible and Inclusive Future Mobility

Abstract

Future mobility will be highly automated, multimodal, and ubiquitous and thus have the potential to address a broader range of users. Yet non-average users with special needs are often underrepresented or simply not thought of in design processes of vehicles and mobility services, leading to exclusion from standard transportation. In consequence, it is crucial for designers of such vehicles and services to consider the needs of non-average users from the begin on. In this paper, we present a design framework that helps designers taking the perspective and thinking of the needs of non-average users. We present a set of exemplary applications from the literature and interviews and show how they fit into the framework, indicating room for further developments. We further demonstrate how the framework supports in designing a mobility service in a fictional design process. Overall, our work contributes to universal design of future mobility.