Autonomous Vehicle Inclusive Planning Cohort Facilitation

In 2024, the Seattle Department of Transportation established an Autonomous Vehicle Inclusive Planning Cohort to provide recommendations for our future approach to autonomous vehicle operations in Seattle. Uncommon Bridges facilitated group discussions on insights and recommendations for implementation, uplifted community perspectives, and fostered collaboration with regional partners. The cohort was made up of people from different backgrounds, including people of color, those experiencing disabilities, immigrants, and those with low incomes. These community members helped shape the priorities, and they were compensated for their time and input.

Over six months, the cohort discussed seven key priorities:

• Management and Accountability
• Workforce Protection and Development
• Accessibility and Affordability
• Safety
• Environmental Impacts
• Intersectional Equity
• Education to Community

The cohort's insights and recommendations were documented and helped inform the development of a Racial Equity Toolkit and a final report from the University of Oregon’s Urbanism Next Center. This effort will help chart Seattle’s approach to autonomous vehicle policies and strategies to address the unique needs and priorities of Seattle’s communities.

"Our Autonomous Vehicle Inclusive Planning Cohort meetings demonstrated a deep commitment to centering racial equity through an intersectional lens. We intentionally included representatives from communities historically marginalized in transportation planning, including people of color, immigrants, refugees, people with disabilities, low-income residents, and those experiencing housing insecurity."

"…Our approach to disability justice was particularly noteworthy, as we consistently emphasized that disability access issues disproportionately impact communities of color and must be considered alongside racial equity rather than as a separate concern. We pushed for accessibility to be built into AV systems from the start, not added as an afterthought.  

Our meetings produced concrete recommendations for ensuring racial equity remains central to AV deployment, including workforce development programs targeted at impacted communities, language access requirements, community education initiatives, and accountability measures. We emphasized that SDOT must maintain ongoing dialogue with communities and be willing to course-correct based on community feedback.

Overall, our work demonstrated that meaningful racial equity analysis requires examining multiple, overlapping systems of advantage and disadvantage, while ensuring that historically marginalized communities have a central role in shaping transportation futures…"

- Dorian Taylor, Member of the Autonomous Vehicle Inclusive Planning Cohort

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