Autonomous Vehicles, Children’s Mobility, And Family Perspective

Abstract

This paper presents the current knowledge on ridership scenarios for autonomous vehicles and shuttles within the context of children’s mobility. Perspectives from parents, caregivers, and schools provide a unique use case that needs further attention from vehicle manufacturers and policy regulatory agencies. Social benefits of and barriers to adoption, willingness, and acceptance as well as hypothetical use scenarios are discussed from a family mobility perspective. Relevant accounts from other forms of automation are presented in parallel to highlight the challenges and opportunities for using autonomous and automated vehicles to enhance parent-child mobility practice. Future research opportunities are discussed to highlight the need to better understand barriers to adoption from parent, family, and school perspectives as well as potential practical contributions and real-world implications.