Towards Autonomous Transportation. Passengers’ Experiences, Perceptions and Feelings in a Driverless Shuttle Bus in Finland

Arto Salonen,Noora Haavisto

doi:10.3390/su11030588

Abstract

Autonomous vehicles, electrification, and ride-sharing appear to be the next big change in the field of mobility. It can lead to safer roads, less congestion, and reduced parking. In this research, we focus on real-life user experiences of a driverless shuttle bus. We are interested to know what kind of perceptions and feelings people have when they travel in an autonomous shuttle bus. Therefore, we apply Harry Triandis´ Theory of Interpersonal Behaviour (TIB), which recognizes that human behavior is not always rational. Human behaviour, and its change, is linked to the intention, the habitual responses, and the situational constraints and conditions. The qualitative data (n = 44) were collected in 2017 by semi-structured interviews in Espoo, Finland. The interviewees were passengers who travelled a predefined route in a driverless shuttle bus. We applied inductive content analysis. The findings were compared in the theoretical framework of TIB. According to the results, a lack of human driver was not a problem for the passengers. They were surprised how safe and secure they felt in the autonomous vehicle. More specifically, passengers´ perceptions were similar to when travelling by a metro or a tram, where a passenger rarely interacts with the driver, or even witnesses the existence of the driver. However, the results suggest that people are much more intolerant of accidents caused by autonomous vehicles than by humans. On a general level, positive attitudes towards autonomous vehicles can be supported by giving people possibilities to try autonomous vehicles in a safe, real-life environment. The decision whether to use a driverless shuttle bus or not correlates highly with the contextual factors. Route and flexibility are the most important reasons for behavioral changes.

Highlights

Personal mobility has always been a desire for humans
In order to understand the results, it is good to recognise that the driverless shuttle bus is—from the point of the passengers—an example of advanced technology based on artificial intelligence [58], which is demonstrated by this comment: “I rely on technology and I do not believe that a human being could be a better driver than artificial intelligence
The negative outcomes of this kind of high-tech solution, which can prevent the change in behaviour, are that some people have started to fear that driverless shuttle buses will take jobs in a society [18], or in the bigger picture, that artificial general intelligence (AGI) could turn against humans, as seen in movies

Summary

Introduction

For over 100 years, the dominant mode of transportation has been the human-driven private car [1,2]. Autonomous vehicles, along with electrification and sharing, appear to be the big change in the field of mobility [3,4,5,6]. Up to 40 percent of the mileage driven in Europe could be covered by autonomous vehicles by 2030. After 2040, over 70 percent of the new cars sold in urban areas in the United States will be shared with driverless cars [8]. Sharing means that mobility is a service without a private car [9]. It is evident that environmental, social, and economic sustainability challenges demand citizens to have a more pragmatic view of car-ownership in the future [10]

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