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Sharing economies enabled by technical platforms have been studied regarding their economic, legal, and social effects, as well as with regard to their possible influences on CSCW topics such as work, collaboration, and trust. While a lot current research is focusing on the sharing economy and related communities, there is little work addressing the phenomenon from a socio-technical point of view. Our workshop is meant to address this gap. Building on research themes and discussion from last year’s ECSCW, we seek to engage deeper with topics such as novel socio-technical approaches for enabling sharing communities, discussing issues around digital consumer and worker protection, as well as emerging challenges and opportunities of existing platforms and approaches.
Autonomous driving enables new mobility concepts such as shared-autonomous services. Although significant re-search has been done on passenger-car interaction, work on passenger interaction with robo-taxis is still rare. In this paper, we tackle the question of how passengers experience robo-taxis as a service in real-life settings to inform the interaction design. We conducted a Wizard of Oz study with an electric vehicle where the driver was hidden from the passenger to simulate the service experience of a robo-taxi. 10 participants had the opportunity to use the simulated shared-autonomous service in real-life situations for one week. By the week's end, 33 rides were completed and recorded on video. Also, we flanked the study conducting interviews before and after with all participants. The findings provided insights into four design themes that could inform the service design of robo-taxis along the different stages including hailing, pick-up, travel, and drop-off.
Within qualitative interviews we examine attitudes towards driverless cars in order to investigate new mobility services and explore the impact of such services on everyday mobility. We identified three main issues that we would like to discuss in the workshop: (I) Designing beyond a driver-centric approach; (II) Developing mobility services for cars which drive themselves; and (III) Exploring self-driving practices.
With the debates on climate change and sustainability, a reduction of the share of cars in the modal split has become increasingly prevalent in both public and academic discourse. Besides some motivational approaches, there is a lack of ICT artifacts that successfully raise the ability of consumers to adopt sustainable mobility patterns. To further understand the requirements and the design of these artifacts within everyday mobility adopted a practice-lens. This lens is helpful to get a broader perspective on the use of ICT artifacts along consumers’ transformational journey towards sustainable mobility practices. Based on 12 retrospective interviews with car-free mobility consumers, we argue that artifacts should not be viewed as ’magic-bullet’ solutions but should accompany the complex transformation of practices in multifaceted ways. Moreover, we highlight in particular the difficulties of appropriating shared infrastructures and aligning own practices with them. This opens up a design space to provide more support for these kinds of material-interactions, to provide access to consumption infrastructures and make them usable, rather than leaving consumers alone with increased motivation.
The design of self-driving cars is one of the most exciting and ambitious challenges of our days and every day, new research work is published. In order to give an orientation, this article will present an overview of various methods used to study the human side of autonomous driving. Simplifying roughly, you can distinguish between design science-oriented methods (such as Research through Design, Wizard of Oz or driving simulator ) and behavioral science methods (such as survey, interview, and observation). We show how these methods are adopted in the context of autonomous driving research and dis-cuss their strengths and weaknesses. Due to the complexity of the topic, we will show that mixed method approaches will be suitable to explore the impact of autonomous driving on different levels: the individual, the social interaction and society.
Opportunities for Sustainable Mobility: Re-thinking Eco-feedback from a Citizen's Perspective
(2019)
In developed nations, a growing emphasis is being placed on the promotion of sustainable behaviours amongst individuals, or ‘citizen-consumers’. In HCI, various eco-feedback tools have been designed as persuasive instruments, with a strong normative appeal geared to encouraging citizens to conduct a more sustainable mobility. However, many critiques have been formulated regarding this ‘paternalistic’ stance. In this paper, we switched the perspective from a designer’s to a citizen’s point of view and explored how people would use eco-feedback tools to support sustainable mobility in their city. In the study, we conducted 14 interviews with citizens who had used eco-feedback previously. The findings indicate new starting points that could inform future eco-feedback tools. These encompass: (1) better information regarding how sustainable mobility is measured and monitored; (2) respect for individual mobility situations and preferences; and (3) the scope for participation and the sharing of responsibility between citizens and municipal city services.
Traditionally automotive UI focusses on the ergonomic design of controls and the user experience in the car. Bringing networked sensors into the car, connected cars can provide additional information to car drivers and owners, for and beyond the driving task. While there already are technological solutions, such as mobile applications commercially available, research on users’ information demands in such applications is scarce. We conducted four focus groups to uncover what kind of information users might be interested in to see on a second dashboard. Our findings show that besides control screens of todays’ dashboards, people are also interested in connected car services providing context information for a current driving situation and allowing strategic planning of driving safety or supporting car management when not driving. Our use cases inform the design of content for secondary dashboards for and especially beyond the driving context with a user perspective.
Shared Autonomous Vehicles: Potentials for a Sustainable Mobility and Risks of Unintended Effects
(2018)
Automated and connected cars could significantly reduce congestion and emissions through a more efficient flow of traffic and a reduction in the number of vehicles. An increase in demand for driving with autonomous vehicles is also conceivable due to higher comfort and improved quality of time using driverless cars. So far, empirical evidence supporting this hypothesis is missing. To analyze the influence of autonomous driving on mobility behavior and to uncover user preferences, which serve as an indicator for future travel mode choices, we conducted an online survey with a paired comparison of current and future travel modes with 302 German participants. The results do not confirm the hypothesis that ownership will become an outdated model in the future. Instead they suggest that private cars, whether traditional or fully automated, will remain the preferred travel mode. At the same time, carsharing will benefit from full automation more than private cars. However, findings indicate that the growth of carsharing will mainly be at the expense of public transport, showing that more effort should be placed in making public transportation more attractive if sustainable mobility is to be developed.
Since its advent, the sustainability effects of the modern sharing economy have been the subject of controversial debate. While its potential was initially discussed in terms of post-ownership development with a view to decentralizing value creation and increasing social capital and environmental relief through better utilization of material goods, critics have become increasingly loud in recent years. Many people hoped that carsharing could lead to development away from ownership towards flexible use and thus more resource-efficient mobility. However, carsharing remains niche, and while many people like the idea in general, they appear to consider carsharing to not be advantageous as a means of transport in terms of cost, flexibility, and comfort. A key innovation that could elevate carsharing from its niche existence in the future is autonomous driving. This technology could help shared mobility gain a new boost by allowing it to overcome the weaknesses of the present carsharing business model. Flexibility and comfort could be greatly enhanced with shared autonomous vehicles (SAVs), which could simultaneously offer benefits in terms of low cost, and better use of time without the burden of vehicle ownership. However, it is not the technology itself that is sustainable; rather, sustainability depends on the way in which this technology is used. Hence, it is necessary to make a prospective assessment of the direct and indirect (un)sustainable effects before or during the development of a technology in order to incorporate these findings into the design and decision-making process. Transport research has been intensively analyzing the possible economic, social, and ecological consequences of autonomous driving for several years. However, research lacks knowledge about the consequences to be expected from shared autonomous vehicles. Moreover, previous findings are mostly based on the knowledge of experts, while potential users are rarely included in the research. To address this gap, this thesis contributes to answering the questions of what the ecological and social impacts of the expected concept of SAVs will be. In my thesis, I study in particular the ecological consequences of SAVs in terms of the potential modal shifts they can induce as well as their social consequences in terms of potential job losses in the taxi industry. Regarding this, I apply a user-oriented, mixed-method technology assessment approach that complements existing, expert-oriented technology assessment studies on autonomous driving that have so far been dominated by scenario analyses and simulations. To answer the two questions, I triangulated the method of scenario analysis and qualitative and quantitative user studies. The empirical studies provide evidence that the automation of mobility services such as carsharing may to a small extent foster a shift from the private vehicle towards mobility on demand. However, findings also indicate that rebound effects are to be expected: Significantly more users are expected to move away from the more sustainable public transportation, leading to an overcompensation of the positive modal shift effects by the negative modal shift effects. The results show that a large proportion of the taxi trips carried out can be re-placed by SAVs, making the profession of taxi driver somewhat obsolete. However, interviews with taxi drivers themselves revealed that the services provided by the drivers go beyond mere transport, so that even in the age of SAVs, the need for human assistance will continue – though to a smaller extent. Given these findings, I see action potential at different levels: users, mobility service providers, and policymakers. Regarding environmental and social impacts resulting from the use of SAVs, there is a strong conflict of objectives among users, potential SAV operators, and sustainable environmental and social policies. In order to strengthen the positive effects and counteract the negative effects, such as unintended modal shifts, policies may soon have to regulate the design of SAVs and their introduction. A key starting point for transport policy is to promote the use of more environmentally friendly means of transport, in particular by making public transportation attractive and, if necessary, by making the use of individual motorized mobility less attractive. The taxi industry must face the challenges of automation by opening up to these developments and focusing on service orientation – to strengthen the drivers’ main unique selling point compared to automated technology. Assessing the impacts of the not-yet-existing generally involves great uncertainty. With the results of my work, however, I would like to argue that a user-oriented technology assessment can usefully complement the findings of classic methods of technology assessment and can iteratively inform the development process regarding technology and regulation.
Advocates of autonomous driving predict that the occupation of taxi driver could be made obsolete by shared autonomous vehicles (SAV) in the long term. Conducting interviews with German taxi drivers, we investigate how they perceive the changes caused by advancing automation for the future of their business. Our study contributes insights into how the work of taxi drivers could change given the advent of autonomous driving: While the task of driving could be taken over by SAVs for standard trips, taxi drivers are certain that other areas of their work such as providing supplementary services and assistance to passengers would constitute a limit to such forms of automation, but probably involving a shifting role for the taxi drivers, one which focuses on the sociality of the work. Our findings illustrate how taxi drivers see the future of their work, suggesting design implications for tools that take various forms of assistance into account, and demonstrating how important it is to consider taxi drivers in the co-design of future taxis and SAV services.
Vehicle emissions have been identified as a cause of air pollution and one of the major reasons why air quality in many large German cities such as Berlin, Bonn, Hamburg, Cologne or Munich does not meet EU-wide limits. As a result, in the recent past, judicial driving bans on diesel vehicles have been imposed in many places since those vehicles emit critical pollutant groups. For the increasing urban population, the challenge is whether and how a change of the modal split in favor of the more environmentally and climate-friendly public transport can be achieved.
This paper presents the case of the Federal City of Bonn, one of five model cities sponsored by the German federal government that are testing measures to reduce traffic-related pollutant emissions by expanding the range of public transport services on offer. We present the results of a quantitative survey (N = 14,296) performed in the Bonn/Rhein-Sieg area and the neighboring municipalities as well as the ensuing logistic regressions confirming that a change in individual mobility behavior in favor of public transport is possible through expanding services. Our results show that individual traffic could be reduced, especially on the city's main traffic axes. To sustainably improve air quality, such services must be made permanently available.
Companies often have difficulties determining which criteria to base their investment decisions in different countries on. When considering direct foreign investment several risk indices are available. The PCI (Peren-Clement-Index) in its original form was developed in 1998. Its further refinement improves the PCI in three major ways: First, it offers a dynamic adjustment of criteria and consideration of recent changes in the international environment. Second, it provides business specificities of a company or its industrial sector to be considered in addition to macroeconomic aspects by a two-dimensional presentation, which ensures a customized assessment. Third, the PCI allows for consolidating investment decisions by combining a resource-orientated with a market-oriented view. The PCI allows, unlike other indices, a customized and company-specific strategic planning process. Ultimately companies must take up both perspectives in the context of an international investment decision. The use of risk indices in corporate planning for assessing global investments decision creates a fundamentally new of risk assessment.
Digitisation has brought a major upheaval to the mobility sector, and in the future, self-driving cars will probably be one of the transport modes. This study extends transport and user acceptance research by analysing in greater depth how the new modes of autonomous private cars, autonomous carsharing and autonomous taxis fit into the existing traffic mix from today's perspective. It focuses on accounting for relative added value. For this purpose, user preference theory was used as a base for an online survey (n=172) on the relative added value of the new autonomous traffic modes. Results show that users see advantages in the autonomous modes for driving comfort and time utilization whereas, in comparison to conventional cars, in many other areas – especially in terms of driving pleasure and control – they see no advantages or even relative disadvantages. Compared to public transport, the autonomous modes offer added values in almost all characteristics. This analysis at the partwor th level provides a more detailed explanation for user acceptance of automated driving.
Trust is the lubricant of the sharing economy. This is true especially in peer-to-peer carsharing, in which one leaves a highly valuable good to a stranger in the hope of getting it back unscathed. Nowadays, ratings of other users are major mechanisms for establishing trust. To foster uptake of peer-to-peer carsharing, connected car technology opens new possibilities to support trust-building, e.g., by adding driving behavior statistics to users' profiles. However, collecting such data intrudes into rentees' privacy. To explore the tension between the need for trust and privacy demands, we conducted three focus group and eight individual interviews. Our results show that connected car technologies can increase trust for car owners and rentees not only before but also during and after rentals. The design of such systems must allow a differentiation between information in terms of type, the context, and the negotiability of information disclosure.
Trust-Building in Peer-to-Peer Carsharing: Design Case Study for Algorithm-Based Reputation Systems
(2023)
Peer-to-peer sharing platforms become increasingly important in the platform economy. From an HCI-perspective, this development is of high interest, as those platforms mediate between different users. Such mediation entails dealing with various social issues, e.g., building trust between peers online without any physical presence. Peer ratings have proven to be an important mechanism in this regard. At the same time, scoring via car telematics become more common for risk assessment by car insurances. Since user ratings face crucial problems such as fake or biased ratings, we conducted a design case study to determine whether algorithm-based scoring has the potential to improve trust-building in P2P-carsharing. We started with 16 problem-centered interviews to examine how people understand algorithm-based scoring, we co-designed an app with scored profiles, and finally evaluated it with 12 participants. Our findings show that scoring systems can support trust-building in P2P-carsharing and give insights how they should be designed.
Innovations in the mobility industry such as automated and connected cars could significantly reduce congestion and emissions by allowing the traffic to flow more freely and reducing the number of vehicles according to some researchers. However, the effectiveness of these sustainable product and service innovations is often limited by unexpected changes in consumption: some researchers thus hypothesize that the higher comfort and improved quality of time in driverless cars could lead to an increase in demand for driving with autonomous vehicles. So far, there is a lack of empirical evidence supporting either one or other of these hypotheses. To analyze the influence of autonomous driving on mobility behavior and to uncover user preferences, which serve as indicators for future travel mode choices, we conducted an online survey with a paired comparison of current and future travel modes with 302 participants in Germany. The results do not confirm the hypothesis that ownership will become an outdated model in the future. Instead they suggest that private cars, whether conventional or fully automated, will remain the preferred travel mode. At the same time, carsharing will benefit from full automation more than private cars. However, the findings indicate that the growth of carsharing will mainly be at the expense of public transport, showing that more emphasis should be placed in making public transport more attractive if sustainable mobility is to be developed.