Abstract
The main interest of this paper is to analyze the mobility acceptance factors of an automated shuttle bus last-mile service. There is limited research on the passengers’ perception of security and safety of automated mobility, whereas prior research is mostly based on surveys interested in attitudes towards self-driving vehicles, without being linked to the experience. We, on the other hand, are interested in passengers’ feeling of security and safety, after taking a ride with an automated shuttle in an open urban environment. For studying this, we conducted an automated shuttle bus last-mile pilot during a four-month period in the city of Tallinn in late 2019. The method is a case study focusing on one city with several tools for data collection applied (surveys, interviews, document analysis). The pilot, open and free for everybody, attracted approximately 4000 passengers, out of which 4% responded to the online feedback survey. For studying the operational capacity, we had a panel interview with operators of the shuttle service, in addition to analyzing daily operational log files. The results indicate that passengers’ perceived feeling of security and safety onboard was remarkably high, after taking a ride (and lower without a ride, in a different control group). The bus was operated only if operational capacity was secured, thus having significant downtime in service due to environment, technology and traffic-related factors.
Highlights
In the context of urbanization, cities face challenges related to the growing number of cars on the streets, which, in turn, causes traffic congestions and increases the overall emissions
The adoption of automated vehicles (AVs) can be challenging because of reasons related to passenger safety, passenger security and operational capacity
The case selection for this project is, on one hand, dependent on a potential to set up an open-street automated shuttle bus last-mile service pilot, and on the other hand, is dependent on a potential to gather primary data to study the link between user experience and automated mobility and various operational capacity factors influencing this
Summary
In the context of urbanization, cities face challenges related to the growing number of cars on the streets, which, in turn, causes traffic congestions and increases the overall emissions. Passenger safety is understood here as the passengers’ subjective feeling of traffic safety onboard an automated bus. Passenger security is understood as the passengers’ subjective feeling of security onboard an automated bus. Operational capacity refers to the quality of service of an automated bus influenced by the factors of environment, traffic and technology. One of our key interests is to investigate passengers’ perceived risk aversion regarding security and safety of automated urban mobility. The occurrence of different issues and how they were addressed can influence the passenger experience, including their perceived safety and security. The overall contribution of this paper is to address the differences between perceived safety and security concerns versus technological challenges of integrating such a last-mile service with urban mobility
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