85The Future of Intelligent Transport Systems. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-818281-9.00007-3
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Chapter 7
User acceptance and
ethics of ITS
7.1 Overview of user acceptance of highly automated
vehicles
It is evident that all the advances in automotive automation are quickly lead-
ing to highly autonomous vehicles that employ smart systems (e.g., cruise con-
trol, line keeping assistants, ABS, collision prevention systems, etc.) first as
facilitators to the driver and gradually as active modules of a self-driving car.
In parallel to this evolution that concerns a single vehicle, the advances in ma-
chine-to-machine communication and collaboration allow autonomous vehicles
to operate in smaller or larger groups, to communicate with drivers, passen-
gers, and pedestrians and gradually improve the safety, efficiency, and overall
user experience of driving. This automation comes at different levels that rely
upon—more, less or not at all—the engagement of the driver.
As explained in the previous chapters, the potential impact of these advances
is enormous. An autonomous driving system could avoid many types of acci-
dents that are due to driver's distraction, sleepiness, fatigue, or slow reflects and
could dramatically reduce the respective fatalities (by over 90%) from those
accidents (Piao et al., 2016). The technological advances can also support the
development of new transport services that support multi-modality (e.g., walk-
ing, driving, and using public transportation services) and optimize connectivity
between the various means of transport in order to minimize travel time and
increase mass transportation. In addition, the information provided to the users
of an integrated smart transportation system (e.g., traffic information, public
transportation route information, safety-related warnings, etc.) will improve the
driver/passenger experience and allow them to make informed decisions at each
moment of their travels (Meyer, Becker, Bösch, & Axhausen, 2017; Sparrow &
Howard, 2017). The development of new transportation services, and new mod-
els of traveling (e.g., car-pooling or sharing services) will transform the concept
of “vehicle as a property” to “vehicle as a service,” which in turn will create
new business models and opportunities (Fagnant & Kockelman, 2015; Krueger,
Rashidi, & Rose, 2016; Litman, 2015).
A prerequisite for the success of ITS and automated driving is the wide ac-
ceptance of the associated technologies and the advances they bring to daily life.