Impressions after an automated mobility experience: An acceptance study

Abstract This paper presents people’s impressions after a demonstration of a fully robotized electric vehicle in Rambouillet, a peri-urban area connected with rural sections in France. 155 participants experienced a 6.5 km ride that included driving in a narrow two-way road, negotiating roundabouts, traversing a tunnel and interacting with other users of the road such as vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists. 298 impressions from 114 respondents were collected from a written questionnaire and open interviews. Users’ comments were classified in categories as follows: system capabilities, purpose and benefits, travel destination and encouraging remarks. Major results show that participants felt safe, where only 1.01% of comments denoted apprehension despite the increase of speed (up to 50 km/h) with respect to other studies. Users’ were satisfied with the automated vehicle (AV) performance, where only 3.5% criticized the system, denoting they expected a higher level of autonomy. 22% of users mentioned train stations as useful application (i.e. potential destination) for an automated on-demand mobility service. More than 200 comments were related to travel destinations, pointing towards various scenarios where an AV service could be useful for them. Conclusions show that realistic vehicle speed increases passenger acceptance of automated vehicles, increasing system confidence with respect to previous studies in the field.