Shared autonomous vehicles for older adults and people with disabilities in Greece: An isolation amplifier or a social inclusion facilitator?

Introduction The time when Shared Autonomous Vehicles (SAVs) are set to make transport driverless and not privately owned or used, is nearing even for countries which have not been thus far in the forefront of vehicle automation discussions. SAVs have the potential to make traditional and long-standing barriers to mobility, like ageing and disability, obsolete provided that they are designed to cater for the special needs of vulnerable populations closer to transport-related social exclusion. 

Methods Our study uses 32 semi-structured interviews with Greek stakeholders, who know the accessibility landscape of SAVs or represent vulnerable groups and their rights, in order to specify and contextualise how SAVs can support the special travel needs of older adults and people with disabilities. We do that by decoding, through a six-step literature review-informed thematic analysis, their insights around the SAV accessibility discourse. 

Results Four dominant themes, each with their distinctive dimensions and expressions, emerge namely: infrastructure and the built environment, inclusive technology, scepticism and reality check and policy and governance.

Conclusions We conclude that SAVs are described as a positive, in principle, but at the same time deeply disruptive change that may be premature for a transport ecosystem that is yet to fix basic problems like the lack of infrastructure and legislation designed to safeguard the transport access of underprivileged road users.