Autonomous Shuttles for Paratransit: Evaluating the Effectiveness of IBM Watson as an Interface

The American with Disabilities Act (ADA) passed in 1990 prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in the public sector, the workplace, schools and transportation. In the case of universities and their current paratransit systems, there is still much progress needed in terms of the resources and infrastructure available to students, faculty, and staff. The Texas A&M University Mechanical Engineering Department with the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) are working together to tackle this problem and both have developed an autonomous (self-driving) shuttle for the purpose of transporting mobility impaired individuals across the university campus. In order for the autonomous shuttle system to be used as a paratransit resource, an appropriate feedback system must be developed for users to interact with the shuttle while tailoring to their individual needs. International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) agreed to collaborate by providing access to their powerful artificial intelligence technology, IBM Watson. For this paper, the task was to determine if this is a suitable interface between users and the system. Research began by assessing the current paratransit conditions on the Texas A&M University campus while researching the magnitude of the problem and the users’ needs which ultimately defined the needed functions. Afterwards, extensive exploration was done to find the potential functions and services available through IBM Watson that would satisfy the users’ needs. The findings concluded that the technology tested produced the desired result of the main interface tool between the user and the system.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ABE60 Standing Committee on Accessible Transportation and Mobility.
• Authors:
  • Cuellar, Christian A
  • Hernandez, Alejandra
  • Saripalli, Srikanth
  • 0000-0002-3906-7574
  • Brydia, Robert
  • Vazquez, Jose
  • King, Robert
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 97th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2018-1-7 to 2018-1-11
• Date: 2018

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 19p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Artificial intelligence; Autonomous intelligent cruise control; Intelligent vehicles; Paratransit services; Shuttle service
• Subject Areas: Public Transportation; Safety and Human Factors; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01663321
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 18-05706
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Mar 21 2018 10:04AM