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    <copyright>Copyright © 2026. National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.</copyright>
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    <managingEditor>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</managingEditor>
    <webMaster>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</webMaster>
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      <title>SPR-2325: Implementation and Evaluation of Aira Access Pilot Run in Connecticut</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/2003110</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The goal of this project is to implement Aira, one of the fastest-growing assistive technology options used for blind and low-vision (BLV) individuals, across the entire State of Connecticut, to be used for navigation, wayfinding, riding public transportation, and to ensure proper social distancing for BLV individuals. In this regard, the Connecticut Transportation Safety Research Center (CTSRC) at the University of Connecticut (UCONN) project team will be responsible for surveying BLV individuals to understand travel patterns and barriers faced by visually impaired individuals in Connecticut. The survey results can provide an overview of the needs and barriers faced by people who are blind or have low vision while using public transportation or conducting daily chores such as shopping for groceries, medicine, etc. Aira pilot service will then be implemented across Connecticut to assist BLV individuals. The Aira Corporation will be responsible for the pilot run of the Aira Services. The BLV participants for the pilot implementation will be selected from the Blind Registry maintained by the Bureau of Education and Services for the Blind (BESB) within the Connecticut Department of Aging and Disability Services (ADS) in Connecticut (Connecticut ADS-BESB). The final list of participants will be decided based on the agreement between Aira, UCONN, Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT), and Connecticut ADS-BESB. Multiple follow-up user surveys will be conducted to understand how the service provided by Aira can help BLV individuals in using public transportation and access to essential services. Aira also provides a real-time dashboard with qualitative and quantitative information regarding the service provided by Aira. An evaluation of the Aira provided real-time dashboard along with qualitative and quantitative data will be conducted by the CTSRC project team to generate performance matrices and to provide a summary of their services to the stakeholders.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 04 Aug 2022 01:22:05 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/2003110</guid>
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      <title>Can Augmented Reality Help Pedestrians Safely Cross Multiple Lanes of Traffic?</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1964657</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Assistive technology offers a potential means of improving road safety for pedestrians. One type of assistive technology is the use of augmented reality (AR) displays to convey relevant traffic information to pedestrians. AR displays can overlay graphics on the roadway to visually indicate which gaps between vehicles are safe and unsafe to cross. The aim of this project is to evaluate whether AR displays that offer road-crossing guidance about crossable vs. uncrossable gaps will help pedestrians make safer crossing decisions when crossing two lanes of opposing traffic. Crossing multiple lanes of opposing cross-traffic is a considerably more challenging task than crossing a single lane, due to the fact that the pedestrian must select a pair of gaps composed of a near lane gap and a far lane gap that in combination afford safe crossing. Participants in this study will perform a road-crossing task in a head-mounted virtual reality system in which they repeatedly cross two streams of continuous stream of traffic coming from opposing directions comprised of crossable and uncrossable gaps. AR technology will be implemented by placing visual overlays directly onto the virtual environment that inform pedestrians about whether a pair of gaps in the near and far lane are safe or unsafe to cross. Such overlays could be displayed by AR glasses in the real world. The research team expects that pedestrians will comply with the overlays and will choose safer pairs of gaps to cross when AR overlays are displayed.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 27 May 2022 11:19:38 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1964657</guid>
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      <title>Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis--The Transit IDEA Program. TrainMate Robotic System: Making Public Transportation, Public</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1940155</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The use of robotic assistive technologies has been shown to be very helpful in improving accessibility to transportation for people with disabilities. Robotic guide dogs, robotic assistants for people with physical disabilities, and cognitive disabilities have been developed throughout the world to help passengers navigate through public spaces, including transportation stations and vehicles. In this Transit IDEA project, a robotic system, the TrainMate, was designed as a cost-effective, train station or public transportation assistant robot to help passengers with disabilities using mobility devices independently board and deboard trains at non-accessible, street-level train stations. The system can also provide service to passengers with other types of disabilities. It can also cater to other specific needs of the transit agency such as security and surveillance, cleansing and disinfection, public health monitoring, station asset inspection and providing announcements and general information to the passengers.  The research team conducted a thorough requirements analysis and developed electromechanical CAD blueprints of a working prototype of the TrainMate robotic system. The software system and artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms were also developed and tested under varying scenarios and environmental test cases. The final simulation results indicated that the TrainMate system takes just a little over two minutes to board or deboard a passenger using a mobility device on a railcar as opposed to the average of 7 minutes it takes the train station staff to do so. This is more than 300% increase in efficiency. The research has also resulted in several blueprints of hardware and software components that are ready to be prototyped and integrated to build the first physical working prototype of the TrainMate system. The fully developed TrainMate system will afford physically challenged passengers with autonomy and independence in using public transportation. It will also provide public transit agencies a modular and flexible technology platform to address the ever-changing needs and requirements of their passengers in an efficient and practical manner making use of advancements in technology.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 11 Apr 2022 17:22:38 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1940155</guid>
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    <item>
      <title>Safe and Efficient E-Wayfinding (SeeWay) Guidance for the Transition to Autonomous Vehicles for the Visually Impaired</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1923094</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Description:  Independent travel for blind and visually impaired (BVI) individuals is essential for maximizing quality of life, by enabling travel to work and recreational activities. Leveraging autonomous vehicles, efficient and safe indoor-to outdoor navigational guidance has the potential to fill this gap for BVI travelers. The research team will start the project by studying and exploring the needs, wants, and concerns of BVI travelers between indoor environments (including home, school, work, etc.) and the locations where they will access future autonomous vehicles in each of those locations to allow for independent travel. The team will derive design criteria based upon a human factors analysis and the resulting models will guide the assistive navigation system development. Based on crowdsourcing and human-centered artificial intelligence (AI) frameworks, the team will explore state-of-the-art computer vision and AI-based environment recognition technologies to enable efficient navigational guidance and improve travel safety for BVI individuals.

Intellectual Merit: The goal of the research is to enable Safe, Efficient and Electronic (E-) Wayfinding (SeeWay) guidance solutions for the transition to facilitate BVI individuals to access autonomous vehicles by exploring and developing a portable and affordable solution.

Broader Impacts: Despite its challenges, independent travel for blind and visually impaired (BVI) individuals is an essential component of quality of life, enabling travel to work and recreational activities. Autonomous vehicle technologies have the potential of meeting these challenges. However, efficiently and safely guiding BVI travelers between indoor environments and vehicles outdoors remains a key obstacle. In the future transportation chain, assistive navigation technologies, connecting BVI travelers and vehicles, will be of extraordinary importance for BVI individuals in the context of social justice and health care/public health.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Sun, 06 Mar 2022 13:49:21 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1923094</guid>
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      <title>Impact of Road Information Assistive Systems on Pedestrian Crossing Safety</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1705304</link>
      <description><![CDATA[National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) (2019) reported that road-related fatalities in the United States (US) decreased in 2018 by 2.4% when compared with 2017. Nonetheless, pedestrian fatalities increased by 3.4% in the same period, reaching 6,283 deaths, the highest number since 1990. Similarly, pedestrian fatalities in urban areas have increased by 69% since 2009. Fatal crashes caused 3,267 deaths in Puerto Rico during the 2009-2018 period, out of which 31% were pedestrians. One of the riskier roadway situations for pedestrians is uncontrolled crossings at midblock or unsignalized intersections. Studies have found that crashes at uncontrolled crossings are related to the crossing conflicts, excessive vehicle speeds, inadequate conspicuity/visibility, drivers not yielding to pedestrians, and insufficient separation from traffic. In addition, the use of handheld multimedia devices is growing exponentially, with approximately 1.2 devices for every person in the US alone. The popularity of these devices has resulted in distracted road users. However, these handheld multimedia devices can be used to provide information to a pedestrian in a connected environment. The proper development and future implementation of connected technology, such as vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P) and pedestrian-to-infrastructure (P2I), has a high potential for improving safety. These technologies can be used to inform users of existing road conditions, available services, and unexpected events in the highway network. Vulnerable road users could potentially benefit from receiving real-time information to assist them in making properly informed decisions. The objective of this research is to study the impact of Road Information Assistive Systems (RIAS) on the ability of a pedestrian to cross the roadway. This project will use Virtual Reality equipment to study the effect on pedestrians’ decisions in roadway crossing maneuvers when having an active RIAS in a simulated smartphone or tablet. The intent is to simulate as if the pedestrian is operating in a P2I environment, and the connected device is giving information about the road and traffic conditions to assist the pedestrian in making the crossing maneuver safely. The study will analyze the performance of at-risk and vulnerable pedestrian populations, such as older adults and persons with functional diversity.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 07 May 2020 12:47:29 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1705304</guid>
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      <title>Using Augmented Reality to Help Older Adults Make Safe Road-Crossing Decisions</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1705265</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Pedestrian injuries and deaths caused by motor vehicles are a major concern worldwide. Older adults (ages 65+) encompassed 20% of all pedestrian fatalities in 2017. Assistive technology offers a potential means of improving road safety for older pedestrians. One type of assistive technology is the use of smartphone apps to convey information to pedestrians about when it is safe or unsafe to cross a road (vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P) communication). However, this work has also shown that it is difficult to unambiguously convey prohibitive warnings that indicate when it is not safe to cross. In the study with older pedestrians, for example, participants sometimes had difficulty matching the auditory warning to the correct visual gap. As a result, they relied on their judgment rather than the prohibitive warnings. Another type of assistive technology is the use of augmented reality (AR) displays to convey relevant traffic information to pedestrians. AR displays can overlay graphics on the roadway to visually indicate which gaps between vehicles are safe vs. unsafe to cross. At present, however, little is known about how AR technology can be used to convey information to assist older pedestrians.
This project aims to evaluate whether AR street overlays that offer road-crossing guidance about crossable vs. uncrossable gaps will help older adults make safer crossing decisions. Participants will perform a road-crossing task in an immersive pedestrian simulator in which they repeatedly cross a continuous stream of traffic comprised of crossable and uncrossable gaps. AR technology will be implemented by placing visual overlays directly onto the virtual environment that inform pedestrians about whether a gap is safe or unsafe to cross. Such overlays could be displayed by AR glasses in the real world. The research team expects that older pedestrians will comply with both the permissive and prohibitive overlays and will report that both are equally informative, in contrast to prior work on V2P communication.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 07 May 2020 08:05:50 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1705265</guid>
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      <title>Assistive Technology for Blind Pedestrians to Cross Roads Safely</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1403290</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The long-term goal of the program is to develop a prototype device which will demonstrate the feasibility of the assistive technology to help blind pedestrians. In the proposed project the research team will develop technology to address two components of the technology needed for the long-term project: (a) Reliable traffic light detection using Google street view (GSW) and (b) Image Geo­localization using GSW.

]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 11 Apr 2016 10:57:40 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1403290</guid>
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