Troubling autonomous public transport: Comparing people with ambulatory disability and older adults’ perceived barriers, identification, and communication preferences

Abstract

This study responds to how people with disability and older adults are jointly figured as warrants for autonomous public transport development in Singapore. As the state seeks to incorporate autonomous technology into its public transport system, the associated discourse has uncritically paired disability and ageing identities as potential beneficiaries. Drawing upon focus group data with 20 people with ambulatory disability and 21 older adults, we found that both groups perceived distinct barriers to autonomous public transport use, differed in their identification with the logics undergirding the technology’s development, and had different preferences for related communication. Yet, despite participants’ opposing valuation of autonomous public transport, their responses gestured toward an overarching technology system that has prioritised efficiency over the inclusion of diverse body-minds. Our findings further reveal how people with ambulatory disability and older adults view themselves to be outside the boundaries of the normative APT user—people who are non-disabled, young, and receptive to technology. This study contributes to a broader understanding of how disability and ageing studies can productively converge to assess the systems of disadvantage that have defined the social positions of both identities. Simultaneously, our findings caution against inappropriately conflating the lived experiences and perspectives of people with disability and older adults, especially regarding the design and communication of new transport technology.