Poster 17: Transporting Unaccompanied Minors in Autonomous Vehicles: Results From Driving Simulator Exposure and Focus Groups
(Room Palms Ballroom)
16 Jul 19
5:30 PM
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7:00 PM
While large survey have been conducted to assess public opinion on self-driving, the results of these studies are often biased by the fact that most people have never experienced self-driving. We present the results of an exploratory study that entailed having 21 parents, and 14 of their
children children ride in a driving simulator in autonomous mode before providing their opinions about using AVs. Parents also participated to moderated focus groups on self-driving. Topics included minimum age for solo child passengers, types of trips unaccompanied children might
take, and vehicle features needed to support child passengers. Our study characterized parents as ‘eager’ or ‘reluctant/opposed’. We found that only one-third of the parent participants who indicated they would be comfortable having their child ride with them in an AV also said they would be comfortable allowing their child to ride alone in an AV. This result was consistent with another prior survey.