Note: This account only posts external research that has been approved by the NAS research team. The National Autistic Society's Evidence and Research team are also partnering on this particular study.
What is the research about?
This project is aiming to improve support for autistic people who face barriers or challenges with driving a car. Specifically, the research will develop new tools for learners, using the latest Extended Reality (XR) technology. To guide the development process, we are holding some ‘co-design’ workshop activities (described below). All of these activities will be quite relaxed and informal – we would just like to hear about people’s experiences, ideas, and opinions before we build new XR tools, to make sure that they are useful in the future.
Who are the researchers looking for?
We are looking for up to 30 autistic people who are willing to help us come up with ideas for our new XR support tool. The activity is open to people aged 18+ who are eligible to drive (or could learn to drive) in the UK. Please note that we are looking for people who are already qualified drivers and people who do not currently have a driving license.
Where does the study take place? How long does it take?
The project involves the following activities:
- Virtual focus groups – these will be attended by 2 or 3 researchers and 4-8 autistic people. They will take place on Microsoft Teams or Zoom and will last 1-2 hours. We will ask the group some questions about their driving experiences, to hear different people’s views and ideas on the topic (before we try to build anything new in XR).
- In-person workshops – these will be attended by up to 12 autistic people. They will take place in a private University room, either in Bath city centre or on the Claverton campus (depending on people’s preferences). Our researchers will run some small group activities, which get people to think about new ideas for an XR tool and share these ideas with other autistic people and developers. The activity will last up to 3 hours and will give people the chance to try out some XR tools (if they want to).
- Survey forms – to help us decide what we build and how we build it, we will ask people to complete online surveys that take around 5-10 minutes to fill in. There may be multiple ‘rounds’ of these surveys, so that we can refine ideas over time.
- Optional interviews – those that have used our XR tools will be invited to a follow-up consultation. This would occur on a one-to-one basis and will last 30-60 mins. Depending on personal preferences, it can take place either in-person or online. We would simply ask some questions about our XR tool and record people’s responses.
Activities will occur between June 2025 and April 2026. They are likely to take place on weekdays, but specific times will be picked once we know everyone’s preferences. Payments of £25 per hour will be made to those who attend any research activities.
Please note that we are asking people to complete at least 1 virtual workshop, 1 in-person workshop, and 1 set of feedback surveys. For those that want to do more than this, there will be opportunities to attend additional workshops and one-to-one interviews.
I'd like to take part, what do I do next?
If you are interested in this activity please complete our brief expression of interest form here. If you have any questions please contact Tom Arthur via email: T.T.Arthur@exeter.ac.uk.
