Accessible Transportation Technologies
Research Initiative (ATTRI)

ATTRI News and Events

• ATTRI Update Webinar #5 – Robotics and Automation recording is now available
• ATTRI Institutional and Policy Issues Assessment Now Available
• ATTRI Application Development Webinars Recordings Now Available
• NIDILRR Announces Robotics and Automation Grant Recipient
• Now Available – ATTRI International Innovation Coordination Plan
• ATTRI Application Development Awards

More news

ATTRI Technology Development

Wayfinding & Navigation

Pre-Trip Concierge & Virtualization

Safe Intersection Crossing

Robotics & Automation

About ATTRI

The USDOT’s Accessible Transportation Technologies Research Initiative (ATTRI) is a joint USDOT initiative, co-led by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Federal Transit Administration (FTA), and Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint Program Office (ITS JPO), with support from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR), and other federal partners. The ATTRI Program is leading efforts to develop and implement transformative applications to improve mobility options for all travelers, particularly those with disabilities. With nearly 20 percent of the U.S. population comprising individuals with disabilities, and other demographic trends such as the increasing number of older Americans, USDOT is seeking to expand innovative travel options. ATTRI research focuses on removing barriers to transportation for people with visual, hearing, cognitive, and mobility disabilities. Emerging technologies and creative service models funded by ATTRI will offer all Americans enhanced travel choices and accessibility at levels once only imagined. The USDOT has awarded application development funding for Wayfinding and Navigation, Pre-trip Concierge & Virtualization, Safe Intersection Crossing with NIDILLR awarding a grant in the Robotics and Automation technology area.

Complete Trip

Working together, the four technology areas will provide the basis for an accessible transportation network that is far more economical, expansive, and welcoming than we have now, which is of increasing importance not only to travelers with disabilities, but to all travelers in the United States.

The accessibility of a transportation system can be described in terms of the ability of individuals to go from home to a destination without breaks or in terms of a travel chain with various links such as trip planning, travel to station, station/stop use, boarding vehicles, using vehicles, leaving vehicles, using the stop or transferring, and travel to destination after leaving the station or stop. If one link is not accessible, then access to a subsequent link is unattainable and the trip cannot be completed. Thus, the travel chain defines the scope of potential research and development in accessible transportation.

The inability to get to and from destinations, i.e., from home to a transit station and from the station to a final destination (the first mile/last mile problem) and distance traveled are persistent problems in the travel chain. An accessible travel chain allows individuals with disabilities, especially those with severe disabilities, to have independent access to work sites, educational programs, health facilities, and social and recreational activities.

Click on this blog to see how someday soon a traveler such as Andy can independently plan and complete all segments of his trip, enabling him to travel to work, school, medical appointments, and linking him to wider community.