A new app that helps people with disability use driverless buses is pointing the way forward for autonomous public transport, its developers say.

Researchers from La Trobe University trialed the app for the Victorian Department of Transport and Infrastructure in partnership with intelligent transport company HMI, which provided a driverless shuttle bus.

Lead researcher Erik van Vulpen from La Trobe’s Centre for Technology Infusion says the app is designed to give people with disabilities more control over their experience of autonomous transport.

He says drivers perform an important role for people with disabilities, such as ensuring the bus stops, keeping doors open long enough for them to board, and making sure they have time to get seated before departure.

The app gives people more control in these areas, and displays important information on smart phones and screens at bus stops and on buses.

“You can’t just take away the driver and think that everything is going to be okay,” he told Government News.

“When we give control of those elements to the passenger using accessible technology, we can start reduce the reliance on a driver’s assistance.”

Improving Mobility as a Service

Mr van Vulpen says inclusive technology has the potential to trickle down to the general community and improve public interaction with Mobility as a Service (MaaS).

“What we are showing with this app is the future of MaaS. This is a first step for fast, smart, seamless connected public transport where the end user is much more in control of their journey,” he says.

The research team is now refining the app and investigating opportunities to integrate the technology with existing public transport services.

Mr van Vulpen says the technology is ready for use in controlled environments where there is a stable route, such as sports events, aged care and airports.

“There’s no reason why the app we have developed can’t be used in those kind of environments today,” Mr van Vulpen says.

“From there it’s a matter of integrating this modality of transport into other modes of transport where it has to interact with other traffic.”

Developers are also in talks with the Queensland government about introducing the technology for the 2032 Brisbane Olympics, he says.

Mr van Vulpen likes to think that accessible technology can spearhead the autonomous transport revolution.

“The way I like to position accessibility is not as an afterthought, but something that can trickle down and open new possibilities for transport that will benefit the wider community as well,” he says.

“I would hope that all governments start looking at innovations like this.”