We were headed to City Hall to speak about autonomous vehicle service on behalf of the San Diego Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind of California. After ordering a rideshare from downtown, a driver was quickly assigned.
Because pickups near the ballpark can be hectic, we sent him a note saying which side of the street we were on, and that we were two blind passengers with a guide dog. Within seconds, he canceled.
The replacement driver received the same message and welcomed us warmly. He told us Julia’s dog Valdine reminded him of his own retriever.
After the meeting, we requested an autonomous vehicle for the trip home. The contrast was striking. We did not have to wonder whether Valdine would be accepted or explain ourselves to a driver.
The irony was hard to miss. On our way to City Hall to speak about transportation access, we encountered the very uncertainty that blind rideshare passengers face all too often. We cannot say why the first driver canceled.
State and federal law, along with rideshare company policies, prohibit denying service because a passenger travels with a service animal. Rideshare companies have also introduced safeguards intended to prevent and document guide-dog denials. Those protections matter, but denials still occur, and riders may still struggle to establish why a driver canceled.
For Julia, this is not abstract. During the past two years, drivers have denied rides to her and Valdine at least eight times. Those denials have caused her to miss important appointments and family events. Every time she requests a ride, she must wonder whether the next driver will accept her guide dog and whether she will reach her destination on time.
Our ride home was different. In the autonomous vehicle, a driver’s reaction to two blind passengers and a guide dog was no longer a factor. We could request the ride, locate the vehicle, enter it and follow our trip independently.
That independence begins before the vehicle starts moving. The screen-reader-compatible app provides audible walking directions to the pickup location, and riders can activate the vehicle’s horn or a melody to find it by sound. During the ride, spoken trip announcements allow blind passengers to follow their progress without depending on a driver for information.
These features matter. But even an accessible vehicle cannot provide meaningful transportation if policies unnecessarily restrict its availability or service area. Accessibility therefore means more than whether a vehicle can accommodate a disabled passenger once it arrives. For people who cannot drive, availability and geographic reach are themselves accessibility issues.
The policy questions surrounding autonomous vehicles do not have easy answers. They include safety, emergency response, privacy, infrastructure, effects on transportation workers and the question of which level of government should regulate them. Those questions came before the City Council at its Sept. 14 meeting, when members approved a resolution seeking greater local authority over autonomous vehicles.
But our point is narrower. Specifically, wherever these decisions are made, the consequences for people who cannot drive should be considered with the same seriousness.
We appreciate that council members and their staff listened to concerns about disability access and added language addressing compliance with laws protecting people with disabilities. It was a welcome response and a foundation for continued collaboration.
Compliance with existing law is essential, but accessibility also requires considering whether policy decisions could affect the availability and geographic reach of autonomous transportation. Wherever regulatory authority ultimately resides, we hope to work with policymakers to ensure that blind people and others with disabilities are meaningfully consulted before such decisions are made.
Autonomous vehicles will not eliminate every transportation barrier, and their accessibility can and should continue to improve. But for people who have too often encountered barriers in existing transportation services, they offer something both basic and powerful: the ability to request a ride without wondering whether a driver will refuse them or their guide dog.
For Julia, that means a ride she can count on, with Valdine nuzzled at her feet.
Julia Cardenas is president and Jerrod Harrison vice president of the San Diego chapter of the National Federation of the Blind of California.
