Exploring Riders’ Preferences of Using Shared Autonomous Vehicles

Public opinion regarding autonomous vehicles (AV) heavily influences how quickly the technology will be implemented and adopted in the future. This research utilized data collected from riders of Rideshare Automation Payment Integration Demonstration (RAPID), a shared autonomous vehicle (SAV) service in Arlington, Texas, and performed exploratory data analysis to identify the monthly ridership trends of the riders. Within the scope of this project, AVs provided service to the UTA campus and downtown Arlington. The findings revealed that students are the most frequent riders of the RAPID service when compared to non-students. It was also revealed that the usage frequency of RAPID service was more on Tuesdays and Wednesdays when compared to other working days of the week. Additionally, the findings indicate that the service was less utilized during early mornings before 9:00 am and evenings after 6:00 pm when compared to other times of the day. This study offers critical insights toward ridership trends of shared AVs that will assist local, state, and federal transit authorities and planners in formulating policies and transportation strategies to target SAV ridership when the service is more widely offered.