Representing Users: Worthwhile or Just Molièreing it? Exploring Accessibility Challenges in Automated Buses

Abstract

This paper explores how accessibility challenges for older adults in automated buses can be understood through different forms of user representation. Two explorative studies were conducted in an actual stationary automated bus: a user enactment study with three older adults with mobility, vision, and hearing impairments, and an empathy simulation study with six non-target participants using a kit to simulate age-related capability loss. Findings from both studies highlight the importance of multimodal communication, interior design support, and human assistance for older passengers. Beyond these design insights, the paper contributes a methodological reflection on how user enactment and empathy simulation produce different forms of accessibility-related user knowledge. Empathy simulation enables safer exploration of critical interaction scenarios and challenges existing design assumptions, while user enactment with target users grounded such insights in lived experience, situated strategies, and actual capability variation.