Contact: Maridith Geuder
Designing an "intelligent" wheelchair-accessible commuter vehicle is the latest major project for a special Mississippi State research center.
The T.K. Martin Center for Technology and Disability recently received a $68,000 grant from the Mississippi Council on Developmental Disabilities to develop a concept vehicle that meets the needs of persons who cannot drive in currently available vehicles.
"Our goal is to take an existing design and integrate it with cutting-edge technologies to develop a single-person vehicle to be used for short commutes," said Gavin R. Jenkins, a Martin Center's rehabilitation engineer. MSU researchers also will explore the potential for actual production by the automobile industry, he added.
Jenkins, a native of the United Kingdom, said a similar vehicle was tested in Britain during the 1970s. Though that prototype never achieved widespread use because of funding issues, the earlier research "did demonstrate that a potential market exists for this type of car and that a vehicle of its size could operate safely on public highways."
The MSU project will have the advantage of major advances in electronics, telematics and environmental sensing in planning a fully accessible commuter vehicle that can be tailored to an individual's abilities.
"Intelligent cruise control, lane sensing technology and automated braking are all being considered for the vehicle," Jenkins said. The design will incorporate, however, existing components such as chassis, engines, gearing, and other fundamental elements, he explained.
For persons whose disabilities now make traveling independently impossible, such a car could provide improved access to employment, social, health, and recreational opportunities.
"It would allow us to broaden the boundaries for those with disabilities," Jenkins said, noting that a statewide Mississippi Access to Care survey found more than half of the respondents identified transportation as the most important support lacking in the lives of those with disabilities.
"Because Mississippi does not have a public transportation system, this could be a significant development," he said. "I believe the most advanced technologies that put a machine on the surface of Mars can provide people with disabilities the ability to travel to work, to shopping centers, to doctors' offices, and to other places in their local communities."
The memorial to a longtime Mississippi State vice president who led in promoting accessibility on the university campus, the Martin Center was established in 1996 to provide a wide range of clinical, research and training services. Adjoining the Longest Student Health Center, it is the only one of its kind in Mississippi.