How User Comfort Affects Physiological Responses during Automated Driving of Mobility Scooters

Abstract

Automated driving technology enhanced with automated mobility scooter is expected as a transport support for vulnerable elderly and disabled people. It is necessary to have a mobility strategy that can improve the safety, comfort, and acceptability of users for social implementation of automated mobility scooters. In this study, we specifically focus on the comfort of users. The hypotheses that the velocity of mobility scooters and the density of peripheral pedestrians will affect the comfort of users in automated driving and that it can be quantitatively evaluated by using their physiological responses were tested. The environment in which the mobility scooters and pedestrians move around together was reproduced using a driving simulator. The psychological and physiological responses of users during automated driving were investigated and recorded. The results showed that density of pedestrian affect the valence of users, and suggested that the possibility of quantitative evaluation of the user's affect by using physiological measures.