Exploring People's Attitudes and Perceptions of Using Shared Autonomous Vehicles: A Focus Group Study

Shared autonomous vehicles (SAVs) are among the most anticipated advancements in the smart mobility domain, as they have the potential to revolutionize transportation. The literature includes studies of individuals' attitudes toward the adoption of SAVs, but it primarily focuses on potential and nonusers of SAVs who have little or no personal experience with the technology. This research concentrates on a pilot project conducted of RAPID (Rideshare Automation and Payment Integration Demonstration), a ridesharing service that operated in Arlington, Texas, from March 2021 to March 2022. It provides a realistic view of how it was received and utilized, and identifies individual attitudes, perceptions, and concerns that arose following its integration into an existing on-demand ridesharing service. A two-step approach was employed for this study. First, it analyzed survey data collected from SAV service users, which revealed that they rated the seating comfort and boarding highly but rated the pickup and drop-off locations very low. Second, a focus group of four individuals was formed of both users and nonusers of the service, and their input was used to formulate in-depth insights into the post-deployment phase of the project. Our findings indicate that service availability, geographic accessibility, and higher cost were the three major concerns of the participants; lack of accessibility and lack of awareness were the two major reasons for not riding the service. This study provides insights into the perceptions and attitudes of SAV users and nonusers that will help transit agencies successfully implement future SAV services and develop and design effective policies.