Autonomous Mobility as a Service

The public transport agency in the Oslo region, Ruter, has stated their ambition to implement steward-less autonomous vehicles mobility as service (Maas) operations. A pilot with autonomous vehicles for public transport has been launched by Ruter in Ski, close to Oslo. The vehicles deployed are small (4-6 passengers) and will provide first/last mile transport between residential areas and Ski center/train station. The ambition is to remove the driver and to offer a truly autonomous mobility-as-a-service transport where customers can book the vehicle for specific travels, and share the vehicle with other customers going the same way. A requirement for succeeding with a shared self-driving Maas system is that passengers want to share rides with others even without a steward on board, i.e. not only trust technology/safety systems, but also trust their co-passengers. Currently, we lack knowledge about how people will react to such ride-sharing situations in small self-driving vehicles. AutoMaas seeks to explore factors influencing the acceptance of autonomous vehicles (AVs) in the public transport system, and in particular the key question of trusting to share vehicles with strangers without a steward. In close cooperation with important stakeholders, AutoMaas will survey, test and implement physical interventions that seek to enhance trust and promote the usage of such a service. Surveys and field experiments will be carried out to investigate how factors such as interior and exterior design, and digital information can be used to facilitate user adoption. AutoMaas will also test current behaviour models on trust and acceptance in technology, and acceptance in ridesharing, by use of an extensive population survey. AutoMaas will also produce a template for designing such vehicles to maximize trust, and which can be included in Ruter's general vehicle design guidelines for autonomous public transport. The project will include a PhD at the University of Oslo.

Ruter, the public transport agency in the Oslo region, has stated their ambition to implement steward-less autonomous vehicles as a step towards mobility as service (Maas). A requirement for a truly self-driving Maas system to operate is that passengers dare to share rides with other people without a steward on board, i.e. not only trust the technology and the safety systems, they must also trust their co-passengers. This is essential for such systems to succeed, yet there is a huge lack of knowledge about how people will react to such ride-sharing situations. AutoMaas seeks to explore factors influencing the acceptance of autonomous vehicles (AVs) in the public transport system, and in particular the key question if people will dare to share riding in autonomous vehicles without a steward. In order to provide a viable autonomous mobility as a service it is necessary to remove the steward who is currently on board in current European pilots with self-driving vehicles. AutoMaas will take advantage of the pilot with autonomous vehicles that Ruter launches in Ski, close to Oslo. The vehicles are small (4-6 passengers) and will operate in a residential area in Ski, providing first/last mile transport to Ski center/train station. In close cooperation with important stakeholders, AutoMaas will test and implement physical interventions that seek to enhance knowledge about the user's experience of the AVs. Multiple field scenario will be carried out to investigate how factors such as interior and exterior design, and digital information can be used to facilitate user adoption. AutoMaas will also test current behavior models on trust and acceptance in technology, and acceptance in ride-sharing, by use of an extensive population survey. AutoMaas will produce a template for improved new ride sharing behavior models to be included in Ruter’s general international guidelines for vehicle design for public transport. The project will include a PhD at the University of Oslo.