ENABLE - a concept for inclusive mobility as a service
- Aachen, Germany
The concept ‘ENABLE’ is for an app or travel companion, that uses a range of standardized data to put together a suitable mobility chain adapted to every impairment. This is to create a sustainable and inclusive mobility service that is inclusive of people with reduced mobility. The concept developers envision that this app would eventually be used in conjunction with innovative, self-driving vehicles that are barrier-free, flexible, and easy to use.
Service Provided
The service is a digital app meant to guide users to the nearest self-driving vehicle. It is personally adapted and ready to accommodate any need, prepared to take users wherever they need to. It is meant to help disabled people find a comfortable and inclusive mode of transportation that is suited to their needs, whether wheelchair accessibility or visual aid for the blind. These considerations are taken into account in the design of both the app and the vehicles so that both the payment and the ride itself, are easy to use and inclusive.
Intended Users
The basis of the project has been built with the collaboration of different stakeholders, experts, and scientists, but particularly with the help of the people they want to provide a service to, which are visually and auditive impaired people, physically disabled people who include people on wheelchairs, senior citizens, and people with cognitive issues. Their needs were recorded in advance through surveys and workshops and were asked what solutions already exist and what they would suggest. The service does not exclude any companions or people without any disability.
Benefits
The aim and benefit is to create a sustainable and at the same time inclusive mobility concept for the social space from which people with and without disabilities can benefit. Concretely, the benefit of the travel companion is that is easy to navigate and people with any range of disabilities can use it without a problem. It also offers assistance during the ride by communicating with the user or displaying any useful information users might need to know before, during, and/or after the ride. The vehicles, which are still just a concept, should be self-driving and electric, offering the most efficient and quickest route from points A to B.
Service Details
For the travel companion to work, state-of-the-art technology is needed, where the app draws from extensive databases containing information on routes, means of transport, timetables, and tickets. Eventually, innovative, self-driving technology that is barrier-free and easy to use will be implemented to cover the gap between the bus stop and the front door.
There is no specific location yet as ENABLE is a digital traveling companion that could function in the form of an app. One of the three pillars of the project is innovative, self-driving vehicles that are barrier-free, flexible, and easy to use. Ideally, they will complement the existing means of transport in Aachen in a few years’ time. However, no vehicles have yet been developed.
Financial Details
The project is funded by Aktion Mensch e.V. which aims to back projects promoting equal opportunities in society. How much the service will cost once deployed, is still unclear and to be discussed in the upcoming phase of the project.
Nadja Ullrich, who is responsible for ENABLE at Aktion Mensch.
Aachen, Germany
“Our aim was to create a sustainable and inclusive mobility concept for the social space that benefits people with and without disabilities,”
About the Service Providers
RWTH Aachen University, founded in 1870 and located in Aachen, Germany, is one of Europe's foremost institutions for science and technology education and research As part of RWTH Aachen University, IKA researches efficient, sustainable, and safe mobility solutions for various applications by organizing interdisciplinary teams to meet complex requirements in urban and rural settings—individually or with public transportation, but always sustainably, barrier-free, and flexible. Colleagues from diverse fields jointly study complete vehicles and their systems, covering everything from chassis, drivetrain, bodywork, and electronics to driver assistance systems, vehicle acoustics, thermal management, and user acceptance. From this comprehensive knowledge, concepts for components, systems, or entire vehicles that consider driver-vehicle interaction to create solutions centered on people, are developed.
Find More Information
Aktion Mensch
The Institute for Automotive Engineering at RWTH
RWTH Aachen University
Aldenhoven Testing Center
Future Mobility Center
Competence Network for Automated and Connected Mobility