Communication and mobility issues of visually impaired pedestrians with connected autonomous vehicles

This paper presents an econometric modelling framework to unravel the communication and mobility issues of visually impaired pedestrians in the context of connected autonomous vehicles (CAVs). The research uses a dataset collected through a tailor-made stated-preference survey given to visually impaired pedestrians and provides evidence-based recommendations on communication techniques. The recommendations are based on the findings of a structural equation model (SEM) estimated using the survey data. The latent factors ‘safety and security’ and ‘importance of hearing’ are generated using a confirmatory factor analysis embedded in the SEM. The results from the model show that these two factors have negative influences on how much a visually impaired pedestrian trusts the use of CAVs.