Situation Awareness and Automated Shuttles: A Multi-road User Analysis

Automated shuttles are currently being trialed as a new transport solution however to date there has been a lack of studies investigating how other road users interact with these new types of vehicles. The aim of this study was to understand the situation awareness (SA) of road users (driver, cyclist, motorcyclist, pedestrian) interacting with an automated shuttle on a public road. Naturalistic data were collected, and the Event Analysis of Systemic Teamwork was used to develop task, social and information networks for a scenario when all four road user types interacted with the automated shuttle at a T-intersection. The findings provide early insights into SA of different road users when interacting with automated shuttles at unsignalized intersections. Such insights could be used to improve the design of shuttles and road environments to support the SA and decision making of human road users.