Waymo is taking advantage of its participation in the U.S. Department of Transportation’s recent Inclusive Design Challenge to implement four new features intended to make its robotaxis more accessible to more customers.
What is the first feature?
The dome on top of Waymo‘s autonomous taxis will now be used to display the initials of the rider they are there to pick up. The feature makes it easier for passengers to identify their ride in the near to medium distance as it approaches. The display also shows a customizable “Car ID,” which is made up of two coloured letters that can be customized in Waymo’s app.
What is the second feature?
The app will also offer turn-by-turn navigation, but not just for the driver. The customer will also get help finding the best route to their robotaxi utilizing data on sidewalks, crosswalks, and other obstacles that passengers might encounter.
What is the third feature?
In addition, a new distance-to-car compass has been introduced to help riders find their robotaxi where GPS might not quite cut it. It complements the turn-by-turn navigation to precisely find exactly where the vehicle will meet them.
What is the fourth feature?
Waymo AVs will emit a melodic chime, which can be heard below. The feature is intended to help people with visual impairments find vehicles without requiring a shrill horn honk.
“In our testing, a lot of riders really loved it,” Kevin Malta, a Waymo product manager, said. “Not to mention that the car horn can be a little cacophonous. And so it was euphonious to be able to use this melody instead. Because we didn’t want to add to traffic noise pollution.”
The new features, Waymo says, were developed for the U.S. DOT’s first-ever Inclusive Design Challenge. Although the company didn’t win (a team from Purdue University did), Malta says that the ability to implement these features in real life was the real purpose behind participating in the challenge.
The Alphabet-owned company, like others in the robotaxi space, has used the example of increasing accessibility to mobility for people with disabilities as a selling point of its service. Companies have reportedly struggled to actually implement many accessibility features, though, and riders in wheelchairs, for instance, are still underserved. Waymo, however, says that it is committed to involving passengers with disabilities in the design and testing process in order to improve transportation equity.
“There might not be a human being in the front seat,” said Malta, “but we haven’t lost the human touch in the experience.”
