The Role of Social Robots in Autonomous Public Transport
2026 (English)In: Transport Transitions: Advancing Sustainable and Inclusive Mobility: Proceedings of the 10th TRA Conference, 2024, Dublin, Ireland - Volume 1: Safe and Equitable Transport / [ed] Ciaran McNally, Páraic Carroll, Beatriz Martinez-Pastor, Bidisha Ghosh, Marina Efthymiou, Nikolaos Valantasis-Kanellos, Springer Nature , 2026, Vol. Part F903, p. 711-716Conference paper, Published paper (Refereed)
Abstract [en]
Autonomous Public Transport (APT) is a developing innovation with the potential to transform our current transport systems. APT can potentially provide an affordable, safe, and convenient travel solution for daily travel. Recent studies in the field of APT have identified that among several concerns, safety, and trust played an important role in positively impacting user acceptance of APT. A potential solution to address some of these concerns is integrating “Social Robots” into APT. By creating agents that are designed to be distinct entities from the autonomous vehicle, designed to interact with humans socially and intuitively, these robots can potentially improve passenger experiences and the perceived level of safety for the passenger. This could help to build trust in the technology. Using existing literature, this paper explores the benefits and drawbacks of integrating social robots into APT, including improving passenger satisfaction, safety, and efficiency, as well as privacy and security issues.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Springer Nature , 2026. Vol. Part F903, p. 711-716
Keywords [en]
Autonomous, Personal Safety, Public Transport, Social Robots, Trust in Technology, User Acceptance
National Category
Transport Systems and Logistics Other Engineering and Technologies
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-371016DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-88974-5_102Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-105015455222OAI: oai:DiVA.org:kth-371016DiVA, id: diva2:2003316
Conference
10th Transport Research Arena (TRA 2024), Dublin, Ireland, April 15–18, 2024
Note
Part of ISBN 9783031889738, 9783031889745
QC 20251003
2025-10-032025-10-032025-10-03Bibliographically approved