Man-Machine Problems of Passengers in New Urban Transit System

Abstract

Highly automated systems which used to be topics of modern factories and limited industries, are now widespread and are commonly brought into daily life of citizen. In contemporary highly automated systems, not only dedicated operator, but also unspecified kinds of public users are participating partly in its application. The purpose of this paper is to investigate these problems on the basis of actual data with emphasis on the response of passengers in abnormal conditions, in fully automated vehicles experienced in new urban transit system. We give a discription about necessary conditions for highly automated system to be accepted well in the society. For the further improvement of the safety and reliability, it is essential to study the psychological situations of the unspecified public users in case of abnormal conditions, to know their response and behavior characteristics, and to design highly automated system adapted for human use in the wide views. The study of the roles of public users in the highly automated system, as we disscuss here, will propose new aspect of man-machine studies.