Effects of rearward countdown timers at highly automated shuttle buses to announce departing

IF 4.4 2区工程技术 Q1 PSYCHOLOGY, APPLIED

Transportation Research Part F-Traffic Psychology and Behaviour Pub Date : 2025-10-04 DOI:10.1016/j.trf.2025.103379

Silvio Hess , Ann-Christin Hensch , Matthias Beggiato , Josef F. Krems

{"title":"Effects of rearward countdown timers at highly automated shuttle buses to announce departing","authors":"Silvio Hess , Ann-Christin Hensch , Matthias Beggiato , Josef F. Krems","doi":"10.1016/j.trf.2025.103379","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Integrating highly automated shuttle buses (HASB) into today’s road traffic promises benefits regarding traffic efficiency and accessibility. However, one challenge is the implementation of adequate interaction concepts with other traffic participants to ensure safe and comfortable encounters with HASBs. In the present study, the interaction concept to announce the HASB’s departure from a bus stop was examined with regard to the predictability of the HASB’s upcoming driving actions and the characteristics of HASB stop situations. Future potential on-demand HASB stops may require additional information provided to surrounding traffic participants by the HASB itself. The conventional interaction concept currently applied to signal departure, mainly via turn indicators, provides merely few and less detailed information. Therefore, the concept of the countdown timer (CDT) as rearward external HMI at HASBs was introduced and evaluated. CDTs provide information with high temporal precision and potentially well in advance, as HASBs usually have this information in their programmed route planning. In an experimental online study, 148 participants assessed three interaction concepts (conventional, CDT with complementing text, CDT with complementing icon) from two perspectives (following driver, pedestrian on the way to the HASB) concerning understanding/predictability, perceived interaction comfort, and acceptance. As additional behavioural measurements, participants indicated their overtaking behaviour as a following driver and behaviour when approaching the HASB as a pedestrian for each interaction concept. Results revealed for all dependent variables that participants preferred the CDT as interaction concept compared to the conventional interaction concept from both perspectives, with higher ratings for the CDT complemented with text. Behavioural measures indicated that following drivers initiate overtaking manoeuvres earlier and, therefore, faster but also choose larger and, therefore, safer time gaps when initiating overtaking manoeuvres behind a stopped HASB with a CDT. CDTs also supported pedestrians in achieving more correct assumptions regarding the reachability of the HASB. Overall, CDTs as rearward external HMIs proved to be a promising approach for safer and more comfortable interactions at HASB stops.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48355,"journal":{"name":"Transportation Research Part F-Traffic Psychology and Behaviour","volume":"116 ","pages":"Article 103379"},"PeriodicalIF":4.4000,"publicationDate":"2025-10-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Transportation Research Part F-Traffic Psychology and Behaviour","FirstCategoryId":"5","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1369847825003341","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"PSYCHOLOGY, APPLIED","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Integrating highly automated shuttle buses (HASB) into today’s road traffic promises benefits regarding traffic efficiency and accessibility. However, one challenge is the implementation of adequate interaction concepts with other traffic participants to ensure safe and comfortable encounters with HASBs. In the present study, the interaction concept to announce the HASB’s departure from a bus stop was examined with regard to the predictability of the HASB’s upcoming driving actions and the characteristics of HASB stop situations. Future potential on-demand HASB stops may require additional information provided to surrounding traffic participants by the HASB itself. The conventional interaction concept currently applied to signal departure, mainly via turn indicators, provides merely few and less detailed information. Therefore, the concept of the countdown timer (CDT) as rearward external HMI at HASBs was introduced and evaluated. CDTs provide information with high temporal precision and potentially well in advance, as HASBs usually have this information in their programmed route planning. In an experimental online study, 148 participants assessed three interaction concepts (conventional, CDT with complementing text, CDT with complementing icon) from two perspectives (following driver, pedestrian on the way to the HASB) concerning understanding/predictability, perceived interaction comfort, and acceptance. As additional behavioural measurements, participants indicated their overtaking behaviour as a following driver and behaviour when approaching the HASB as a pedestrian for each interaction concept. Results revealed for all dependent variables that participants preferred the CDT as interaction concept compared to the conventional interaction concept from both perspectives, with higher ratings for the CDT complemented with text. Behavioural measures indicated that following drivers initiate overtaking manoeuvres earlier and, therefore, faster but also choose larger and, therefore, safer time gaps when initiating overtaking manoeuvres behind a stopped HASB with a CDT. CDTs also supported pedestrians in achieving more correct assumptions regarding the reachability of the HASB. Overall, CDTs as rearward external HMIs proved to be a promising approach for safer and more comfortable interactions at HASB stops.

查看原文本刊更多论文

在高度自动化的穿梭巴士上，后向倒计时计时器宣布出发的效果

将高度自动化的穿梭巴士（HASB）整合到今天的道路交通中，有望在交通效率和可达性方面带来好处。然而，一个挑战是实现与其他交通参与者的适当交互概念，以确保与hasb的安全舒适的接触。在本研究中，我们考察了在公交站点中通知HASB离开的交互概念，考虑了HASB即将到来的驾驶行为的可预测性和HASB停车情况的特征。未来潜在的按需HASB站点可能需要HASB本身向周围交通参与者提供额外的信息。目前应用于信号偏离的传统交互概念，主要是通过转向指示器，提供的信息很少，也不太详细。因此，倒计时计时器（CDT）的概念被引入并评估为hasb的后置外部HMI。cdt提供的信息具有较高的时间精度，并且可能提前，因为hasb通常在其编程的路线规划中包含这些信息。在一项实验性在线研究中，148名参与者从两个角度（跟随司机，行人前往HASB）评估了关于理解/可预测性，感知交互舒适度和接受度的三种交互概念（传统，CDT带补充文本，CDT带补充图标）。作为额外的行为测量，参与者指出了他们作为跟随司机的超车行为，以及在每个互动概念中作为行人接近HASB的行为。结果显示，在所有因变量中，与传统的交互概念相比，参与者更喜欢CDT作为交互概念，从两个角度来看，CDT与文本相辅相成的评分更高。行为测量表明，后面的司机在启动超车动作时更早，因此更快，但在启动超车动作时也选择更大，因此更安全的时间间隔。CDTs还支持行人对公共交通安全设施的可达性做出更正确的假设。总的来说，CDTs作为后发外部hmi被证明是一种有前途的方法，可以在HASB停站进行更安全和更舒适的互动。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Transportation Research Part F-Traffic Psychology and Behaviour Multiple-

CiteScore

7.60

自引率

14.60%

发文量

239

审稿时长

71 days

期刊介绍： Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour focuses on the behavioural and psychological aspects of traffic and transport. The aim of the journal is to enhance theory development, improve the quality of empirical studies and to stimulate the application of research findings in practice. TRF provides a focus and a means of communication for the considerable amount of research activities that are now being carried out in this field. The journal provides a forum for transportation researchers, psychologists, ergonomists, engineers and policy-makers with an interest in traffic and transport psychology.