News

EU invests nearly $5M to make self-service more accessible

September 8, 2011

The European Union is spending €3.41m ($4.7 million) on a project to make self-service terminals more accessible to the elderly and to people with disabilities.

According to the European Commission, one in six Europeans have a disability, and 87 million Europeans are over the age of 65; however a recent EU study reported that only 38 percent of the country's ATMs provide voice capabilities. (The percentage of ATMS with voice capabilities in the U.S. is 61 percent, while nearly every ATM in Canada has voice capabilities.)

The APSIS4Allproject will look at a variety of terminals including public transport ticket vending machines, public information kiosks and cash dispensers.

"This could ultimately help make public digital terminals (PDTs) more accessible to a wide range of users, from people who are not familiar with the technology, people with reading difficulties, tourists who do not master the local language or even people who may have forgotten their reading glasses," according to a statement from the European Commission.

"For example, tests could involve a programmed card that contains the user's preferences. When the user brings the card close to the ATM, the machine instantly adapts to the user's needs (perhaps changing the size of the font or choice of language)," the statement adds. "Other interfaces could include a mobile phone with accessibility features that enables a customer to purchase a ticket online and pay at the machine issuing the ticket using a secure code sent to their phone."

The first phase of the project is now live and is collecting 3,000 users who are testing machines in order to adapt interfaces according to their needs and preferences.