Designing With Web - Part 3: week 1

"Rethink autonomous driving experience for students using smart cities"

Group 66

Project 1: Transport of disabled students in smart cities

Context

We live in a society where inequalities are still persisting despite all the efforts that have been made. These inequalities may be related to the social, economic or cultural background of individuals, to their gender or sexual orientation or most importantly to their physical and psychological abilities. These last years, we have been assisting to an unprecedented technological revolution benefiting the development of our smart cities. They are more and more connected, not only to us, through our personal devices, but also to one another. One of the main objectives of smart cities is to provide a better quality of life using technologies. Our project contributes to this vision. Indeed, smart cities, more than ever, can be oriented towards inclusivity. Technology advances can reduce inequalities and more particularly those due to physical conditions. Thanks to these technological advances we are now able to ease their lives and provide them with more accessibility in order to integrate them better in our communities. And this is our objective! One of the first and important places of socialisation and integration are schools and universities. We learn, exchange with others and start building our network. However, some students may be excluded from this enriching experience due to their handicap. For the youngest ones, the state provides them with a bus service taking them from home to their schools then bringing them back home. But what about university students? Such a service does not exist. This means university is less or, even worse, not accessible to them. This is an example of exclusion, and for the sake of inclusivity, we must provide equal opportunities for people with disabilities in our communities.

Target

Students with disabilities are our main target. They are the privileged target of our business model and will thus allow us to test during our test phase the viability of our project.

Why?

Because it's exhausting for handicapped students to take public transports as they don’t have the same needs as everyone, autonomous driving would be a solution : a necessary and reassuring way to comfort them. As smart cities exist to improve services to citizens and businesses (among many other benefits), they should promote an inclusive economic model.

Our self-driving cars are adapted to receive students with all types of disabilities. They are adapted to receive wheelchairs without efforts needed from the passenger. They are also adapted to blind people thanks to the voice command. They all only need to identify themselves with their fingerprint or face ID, and the vehicle, informed of the disability through the app, will be able to adapt to each disability. The target is disabled students that will not need assistance thanks to our service.

Service offered

The service we offer is simple. We want to facilitate transportation for people with special needs. Indeed, people with physical of mental disabilities may find more obstacles in their way to emlyon business school campus. Paying for a ticket or having to carry a card can be a hassle. By providing them with a direct and autonomous transport with NFC technology for example we help them in two ways. First the transport is direct and make the transport less of an hassle. Then by its autonomous driving it helps making more shifts and transport them in a safer and more quiet way where they can sit and relax while being transported.

Clients will just have to make a quick contact with their phone where our app will be installed, and the NFC chip will help them to go to their preferred destination which can be set directly in the app. This data will be transfered to the autonomous car that will, thanks to its program, determine the quickest road for all occupants.

Payment can be made by authentification services such as Face ID or Digital footprints to ensure security and ease of use. To unlock and start our cars, the passengers who booked their trip can simply use their Face ID or footprints. The car will recognise its passengers as it is connected to the app and will proceed to the ride that have been booked without any manipulation needed. To answer to all sorts of disabilities, the doors open automatically in contact with fingerprints and for passengers who specified in the app being in wheelchair, a slop comes out automatically. The cars’ interior is adapted to receive wheelchairs and fix them automatically for the safety of the passenger. Our cars are well equiped, prepared and adapted to the smart cities. They work with an artificial intelligence system. Before launching our project, our experts have driven the cars for millions of miles to acquire all the information necessary in terms of signalisation and safety. Our cars are therefore relying on a machine learning system based on all the data previously collected. Our service is safe, the cars have been tested and no accidents have been reported.

Identity

Benchmark

  • Uber is one of the competitors to our project because the company is already developing towards autonomous driving and is the leader of transportation with comfort
  • Cabs can also be considered as a competitor because they can be easily found and refunded if it is needed for medical reasons
  • Another competitor is the service Optibus. It is associated and complementary to the public transportation in the region of Lyon. Disabled people are able to register and then order the optibus to get them to their destination, their vehicles are adapted to disabilities. Moreover, they also provide a service called Optiguide for blind people in order to guide them in the public transports. Those services are designed to make transportation available to disabled people. However, they have to consult the slots available, order, contact the company, whereas with our app is faster and more simple to use and therefore more efficient.
  • Eden transports is a company providing drivers service. They also included disabled people as they developped a range of vehicles adpated to the transportation them.
  • The network Ulysse is the first network of transportation and support of disabled people. They transport disabled children to their specialised schools, that service does not exist for university students.
    • References

    Project 2: Transport of students at the end of parties in smart cities

    Context

    Universities are important socialisation places. They reunite not only French students but also students from all around the world. They all have different backgrounds, cultures, visions or opinions. Universities have this advantage of being a plateform of exchange allowing students to open up to new experiences. Openness is essential to form the future generations that will keep on creating and innovating for the benefit of our communities. In our vision, smart cities must facilitate exchanges in a safe and interconnected environment. Our service is focusing on universities. Indeed, parties are integral part of students’ lives, they take the lead of organizing them and enjoy them all together in a very positive atmosphere. However, some of them might have difficulties going back home and therefore some may refrain from attending such events that constitute an essential socializing experience.

    Target

    Students that seek to drink alcohol without worrying about driving their car are our main target. They are the privileged target of our business model and will thus allow us to test during our test phase the viability of our project.
    The goal is to increase road safety by encouraging students to opt for autonomous driving after they drink alcohol. It avoids them from staying sober during a whole party or taking the risk to drive while being drunk. Last but not least, it is better for the students who don't want to put money into an uber and for the uber drivers that have to stay up late at night.

    Service offered

    The service we offer is simple. We want to facilitate transportation for students after their parties. Indeed, early in the morning, often under influence students may find more obstacles in their way home by classical transportation often not available at those hours. By providing them with a direct and autonomous transport we help them in two ways. First the transport is direct and make the transport less of an hassle. Then by its autonomous driving it helps making more shifts and transport them in a safer and more quiet way where they can sit and relax while being transported.

    Clients will just have to make a quick contact with their phone where our app will be installer, and the NFC chip will help them to go to their prefered destination which can be set directly in the app. This data will be transfered to the autonomous car that will, thanks to its program, determine the quickest route for all occupants.

    Payment can be made by authentification services such as Face ID or Digital footprints to ensure security and ease of use. To unlock and start our cars, the passengers who booked their trip can simply use their Face ID or footprints. The car will recognise its passengers as it is connected to the app and will proceed to the ride that have been booked without any manipulation needed. Our cars are well equiped, prepared and adapted to the smart cities. They work with an artificial intelligence system. Before launching our project, our experts have driven the cars for millions of miles to acquire all the information necessary in terms of signalisation and safety. Our cars are therefore relying on a machine learning system based on all the data previously collected. Our service is safe, the cars have been tested and no accidents have been reported.

    Identity

    Benchmark
    References