Parents’ perspectives on transporting their children in autonomous vehicles – A contextual interview study with parents in Germany

• Published in: Transportation research. Part F, Traffic psychology and behaviour Traffic psychology and behaviour, 2024-11, Vol.107, p.436-463
• Main Authors: Stange, Vanessa, Behrens, Lena, Kuhlmann, Kerstin, Schräder, Tobias, Johann Brettin, Leon, Maurer, Markus
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Autonomous vehicle; Children’s mobility; Contextual interview; Parent; Vulnerable road user
• ISSN: 1369-8478
• DOI: 10.1016/j.trf.2024.08.030

•AVs can be a suitable mobility option for unaccompanied child transportation for a majority of parents in our study.•Parents wanted to train their children and gain first-hand experience with the autoELF vehicle before allowing them to use the autoELF vehicle unaccompanied.•Parents would like to replace most of the previously accompanied car journeys to the children’s leisure activities with the autoELF vehicle.•Only two parents cited school commuting as a use case for the autoELF vehicle and AVs in general.•Parents cited self-responsibility and the ability to regulate emotions as the two most important skills for children to be able to use the autoELF vehicle unaccompanied. Driverless or autonomous vehicles (AVs) have the potential to address children’s mobility disadvantage by enabling them to become more independent from their parents and other adult drivers before they reach the legal age for obtaining a driver’s license. In an online contextual interview study, we interviewed N=22 parents of underage children from Germany to investigate their willingness to use AVs for unaccompanied transportation of their children. The goal of the interview study was to investigate whether AVs are a suitable option to support unaccompanied transportation of children from the parents’ perspective and how these AVs should be designed considering the parents’ concerns and needs. In contrast to former acceptance studies, we familiarized the participants with an existing AV concept called autoELF. We created a user scenario to enable the parents to better imagine the situation. In the study, parents first described their children’s current mobility in a normal week. Parents were then asked about the expected benefits, concerns, child-related prerequisites and technical requirements for using AVs, as well as the possibilities for integrating AVs into their family’s mobility. Results showed that AVs can be a solution to provide children with unaccompanied transportation. In contrast to previous studies, the majority of parents interviewed in this study were willing to use the AV for the transportation of unaccompanied children, but only after parents had gained initial experience with the vehicle and trained their children in its use. Regarding the unaccompanied use by their children, parents based their consent to use the AV on their children’s emotional and cognitive abilities rather than on their age. In their children’s daily mobility, parents intended to replace most