Autonomous vehicles promise to bring increased freedom and mobility to people with disabilities, according to Volkswagen Group of America. 

Building on its 2017 so-called “inclusive mobility initiative,” VW says its advancements in autonomous software and their links to the burgeoning electric vehicle sector will be a boon for differently-abled individuals, Kallanish notes.

“Our mission is to help improve transportation and the quality of life for everyone, especially people with disabilities,” says intelligent cockpit senior director Christian Lorenz. “We work on specific features of hardware and software design to ensure that Volkswagen’s future vehicles and services can be used by as many people as possible.”

Autonomous vehicles can provide mobility for people with disabilities spanning the spectrum - “vision, hearing, and cognition,” VW says. 

“Technology is evolving rapidly, and there’s an unprecedented opportunity to redesign how we get around,” says user experience research and design manager Chandrika Jayant. “In our work, we focus on those groups of people who have been traditionally underserved in mobility spaces.”