The User Acceptance of Autonomous Shuttles in Pretoria

Authors: D. Onanena Adegono, P. Altinsoy, A. Schuster, P. Schäfer

Abstract:

Autonomous vehicles look set to drastically alter the way we move people and goods, in urban as well as rural areas. However, little has been written about Africa with this regard. Moreover, in order for this new technology to be adopted, user acceptance is vital. The current research examines the user acceptance of autonomous minibus shuttles, as a solution for first/last mile public transport in Pretoria, South Africa. Of the respondents surveyed, only 2.31% perceived them as not useful. Respondents showed more interest in using these shuttles in combination with the bus rapid transit system (75.4%) as opposed to other modes of public transportation (40%). The significance of these findings is that they can help ensure that the implementation of autonomous public transport in South Africa is adapted to the local user. Furthermore, these findings could be adapted for other South African cities and other cities across the continent.

Keywords: Autonomous buses and shuttles, autonomous public transport, urban mobility, user acceptance.

References:

[1] A. Faisal and M. Kamruzzaman, “Understanding autonomous vehicles: A systematic literature review,” The J. of Trans. and Land Use, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 45-72, Jan. 2019.
[2] A. O. Salonen and N. Haavisto, “Towards Autonomous Transportation. Passengers’ Experiences, Perceptions and Feelings in a Driverless Shuttle Bus in Finland,” Sustainability, vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 588-607, Jan 2019.
[3] S. Nordhoff, B. van Arem and R. Happee, “A conceptual model to explain, predict, and improve user acceptance of driverless 4P,” in Trans. Research Record: J. of the Transportation Research Board, Vol. 2602, no. 1, pp. 60-67, Jan. 2016.
[4] S. Nordhoff, J. de Winter, M. Kyriakidis, B. van Arem and R. Happee, “Acceptance of Driverless Vehicles: Results from a Large Cross-National Questionnaire Study,” J. of Advanced Trans., vol. 2018, pp. 1-22, Apr. 2018.
[5] C. Pakusch and P. Bossauer, “User Acceptance of Fully Autonomous Public Transport,” in Proc. of the 14th Int. Joint Conf. on e-Business and Telecommunications (ICETE 2017), Madrid, 2017, pp. 52-60.
[6] I. Roche-Cerasi, “Public acceptance of driverless shuttles in Norway,” Trans. Research Part F, vol. 66, pp. 162-183, Sep. 2019.
[7] R. Madigan, T. Louw, M. Dziennus, T. Graindorge, E. Ortega, M. Graindorge and N. Merat, “Acceptance of Automated Road Transport Systems (ARTS): an adaptation of the UTAUT model,” Trans. Research Procedia, vol. 14, p. 2217–2226, Jun. 2016.
[8] A. Dillon and M. G. Morris, “User Acceptance of New Information Technology: Theories and Models,” Ann. Review of Information Science and Technology, vol. 14, no. 4, pp. 3-32, 1996.
[9] F. D. Davis, “Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use, and User Acceptance of Information Technology,” MIS Quarterly, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 319-340, Dec. 1989.
[10] F. D. Davis and V. Venkatesh, “A critical assessment of potential measurement biases in the technology acceptance model: three experiments,” Int. J. Human – Computer Studies, vol. 45, no. 1, p. 19–45, Jul. 1996.
[11] H. Taherdoost, “A Review of Technology Acceptance and Adoption Models and Theories,” in 11th Int. Conf. Interdisciplinarity in Engineering, INTER-ENG 2017, Tirgu-Mures (Romania), 2017, pp. 960–967.
[12] S. Nordhoff, B. van Arem, N. Merat, R. Madigan, L. Ruhrort, A. Knie and R. Happee, “User Acceptance of Driverless Shuttles Running in an Open and Mixed Traffic Environment,” in 12th ITS European Congress, Strasbourg, 2017, pp. 19–22.
[13] E. C. Anania, S. Rice, S. R. Winter, M. N. Milner, N. W. Walters and M. Pierce, “Why People Are Not Willing to Let Their Children Ride in Driverless School Buses: A Gender and Nationality Comparison,” Social Sciences, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 34-51, Feb. 2018.
[14] M. L. Cunningham, M. Regan and S. A. Ledger, “A survey of public opinion on automated vehicles in Australia and New Zealand,” in 28th ARRB International Conf. – Next Generation Connectivity, Brisbane, 2018.
[15] H. Taherdoost, “Validity and Reliability of the Research Instrument How to Test the Validation of a Questionnaire/Survey in a Research,” Int. J. of Academic Research in Management, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 28-36, Jul. 2016.
[16] Statistics South Africa, “Statistics South Africa,” Stats SA, 23 July 2013. (Online). Available: http://www.statssa.gov.za/?page_id=3852. (Accessed 12 May 2020).
[17] P. Browning, “Disruptive Transport Technologies: Coming, Ready or Not!,” in Southern African Trans. Conf., Pretoria, Jul. 2019.
[18] W. Payre, J. Cestac and P. Delhomme, “Intention to use a fully automated car: attitudes and a priori acceptability,” Trans. Research: PartF, Traffic Psychology and Behaviour, vol. 27, no. 2, pp. 252-253, May 2014.
[19] T. Bjørner, “A Priori User Acceptance and the Perceived Driving Pleasure in Semi-autonomous and Autonomous Vehicles,” in European Trans. Conf. 2015, Frankfurt, 2015.
[20] Motaev Marx Motaev GbR, "QuestionStar," Motaev Marx Motaev GbR, 25 May 2019. (Online). Available: https://survey.questionstar.com/b1b99def. (Accessed 9 June 2020).
[21] Statistics South Africa, “National Household Travel Survey Gauteng profile,” Statistics South Africa, Pretoria, Jun. 2014.
[22] Google Maps, “Map Data,” AfriGIS Pty Ltd, 5 July 2020. (Online). Available: https://www.google.co.za/maps/place/Silverlakes+Rd,+South+Africa/@-25.7772379,28.3561795,4562m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x1e955e82cc33c90b:0x1c4e94470b3fa615!8m2!3d-25.7807717!4d28.3644107. (Accessed 5 Jul. 2020).
[23] A. Frith, “Census 2011,” 2013. (Online). Available: https://census2011.adrianfrith.com/place/799035. (Accessed 05 Jul. 2020).
[24] Tom Tom, “Pretoria traffic,” TomTom International BV, 2020. (Online). Available: https://www.tomtom.com/en_gb/traffic-index/pretoria-traffic/. (Accessed 02 July 2020).
[25] M. Q. H. Vestergaard, D. B. Lanng and S. R. Borg, “Mobilizing an Urban District with Driverless Busses,” Trafik and Veje, no. Issue Special Edition for the ITS World Congress 2018, pp. 52-54, Sep. 2018.
[26] City of Tshwane, “BID Line 1A,” 16 October 2012. (Online). Available: http://www.tshwane.gov.za/sites/areyeng/RoutesAndfeeder/Documents/Resources/Documents/BID_Line_1A-_16_October_2012.pdf. (Accessed 5 Jul. 2020).
[27] Department of National Treasury and Department of Transport of the Republic of South Africa, “Towards sustainable city transport systems BRT and City Bus Systems Planning, Design and Operational Review Toolkit,” National Treasury, Pretoria, 2017.
[28] R. Lomme, “Should South African minibus taxis be scrapped? Formalizing informal urban transport in a developing country,” in Proc. of the CODATU XIII Conf., Ho Chi Minh City, Nov. 2008.