Rideshare company Lyft has partnered with assistive community provider Aira to provide accessible travel options for those with visual impairments to help make it easier for them to get around.
The partnership will work by having users communicate with Aira to call for a Lyft, which will prompt the agent to guide them to the best location for the pickup along with all the details on their driver. This helps to keep riders feeling safe, secure and taken care of as they get around their own city or when they are visiting a new location they might not be familiar with.
The accessible travel options offered by the new partnership between Lyft and Aira was explained by Suman Kanuganti, Founder and CEO of Aira, when they said, "Lyft is committed to be a model for the type of community we want our world to be: diverse, inclusive, and safe. Aira’s mission is to give people who are blind or low vision the power of information. I am psyched about this partnership as it’s designed to provide an end-to-end enhanced experience that makes transportation more accessible to all blind and low vision people, anytime and anywhere."
Visually Impaired Rideshare Partnerships
Lyft and Aira will Offer Accessible Travel Options
Trend Themes
1. Accessible Rideshare Partnership - Rideshare companies are partnering with assistive community providers to provide accessible transportation services, creating a disruption in traditional ridesharing services by tapping into a new market.
2. Assistive Technology Integration - Integrating assistive technology into everyday transportation services allows for a more inclusive society and opens up new consumer markets for transportation providers, creating an opportunity for disruptive innovation.
3. End-to-end Accessibility Solutions - Offering end-to-end accessibility solutions for transportation needs, which includes both hardware (such as assistive devices) and software (such as apps), can create a competitive advantage in the industry and provide a disruptive innovation opportunity.
Industry Implications
1. Transportation - The transportation industry can revolutionize their services by creating partnerships with assistive community providers to cater to the need for accessible transportation options, creating a new market while making transportation more accessible and inclusive.
2. Assistive Technology - Assistive technology providers can partner with transportation companies to develop technology solutions that cater to the needs of the visually impaired, enhancing the user experience and creating a new market.
3. Disability Services - The disability services industry can leverage transportation partnerships to provide accessible transportation options to their clients, opening up opportunities for market expansion and disrupting traditional transportation services.