The Role of Human Operators in Safety Perception of AV Deployment—Insights from a Large European Survey

Miltos Kyriakidis, Jaka Sodnik, Kristina Stojmenova, Arnór B. Elvarsson, Cristina Pronello and Nikolas Thomopoulos
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Miltos Kyriakidis: Laboratory for Energy Systems Analysis, Paul-Scherrer Institute, 5232 Villigen, Switzerland
Jaka Sodnik: ICT Department, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Ljubljana, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Kristina Stojmenova: ICT Department, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Ljubljana, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Arnór B. Elvarsson: Infrastructure Management Consultants, 8008 Zürich, Switzerland
Cristina Pronello: Interuniversity Department of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning, Politecnico di Torino, 10125 Torino, Italy
Nikolas Thomopoulos: Department of Tourism and Transport, School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey GU2 7XH, UK

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 21, 1-24

Abstract: Autonomous vehicles are anticipated to play an important role on future mobility offering encouraging solutions to today’s transport problems. However, concerns of the public, which can affect the AVs’ uptake, are yet to be addressed. This study presents relevant findings of an online survey in eight European countries. First, 1639 responses were collected in Spring 2020 on people’s commute, preferred transport mode, willingness to use AVs and demographic details. Data was analyzed for the entire dataset and for vulnerable road users in particular. Results re-confirm the long-lasting discourse on the importance of safety on the acceptance of AVs. Spearman correlations show that age, gender, education level and number of household members have an impact on how people may be using or allowing their children to use the technology, e.g., with or without the presence of a human supervisor in the vehicle. Results on vulnerable road users show the same trend. The elderly would travel in AVs with the presence of a human supervisor. People with disabilities have the same proclivity, however their reactions were more conservative. Next to safety, reliability, affordability, cost, driving pleasure and household size may also impact the uptake of AVs and shall be considered when designing relevant policies.

Keywords: safety; automated driving vehicles; vulnerable road users; user preferences; supervision; privacy; reliability; sustainability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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