Wheelchair-friendly cars

With an ageing population, ever more Europeans will need wheelchairs, yet wheelchair-accessible vehicle options are very limited. Currently, the few suitable vehicles that do exist require expensive and irreversible modifications, and a wheelchair-bound person cannot independently operate the lifting equipment.

The EU Disability Strategy calls for identification and removal of such barriers. Hence, the EU-funded CARGO project aimed to increase the range of options. The six-member consortium worked to realise its CarGo concept, consisting of new wheelchairs paired with new lifts, permitting access to a range of standard vehicles. The system automatically lifts the wheelchair-plus-occupant together into the passenger space, without requiring manual control or input. The wheelchair is restrained to the same safety standards as any normal car seat. CARGO operated between December 2010 and May 2013.

Initial work involved creating a database of the interior spaces available in the 10 most popular family cars in 3 classes. For each, the project calculated the motion paths necessary to achieve access.

The consortium designed and validated a new type of wheelchair. The stage included designing or otherwise obtaining, then testing, a variety of sub-systems, including wheel-mounting mechanisms, locks and associated mechanisms. The prototype wheelchair design was manufactured and validated.

Team members also designed and produced software and hardware control systems to allow autonomous operation. The complete prototype system was installed in the vehicles for which it was designed, successfully demonstrating the concept.

CARGO produced a new and integrated wheelchair/lift system, permitting wheelchair access to the passenger space in a variety of popular vehicles. The system offers improvements to the quality of life and independence of wheelchair-bound people, in addition to commercial opportunity for European small and medium-sized enterprises.