Abstract The emergence of driverless vehicles can fuel the diffusion of regional on-demand transit services by substantially decreasing their operating costs. However, these services will only be viable if a share of the population is willing to adopt them. This study investigates how regional travelers perceive driverless transit services. A survey including a stated preference experiment is developed and applied to collect data from residents in the Region of Coimbra, Central Portugal. In this experiment, respondents can choose to adopt a driverless taxi or a driverless demand-responsive transit (DRT) for a currently undertaken trip. The driverless taxi service offers private taxi trips while the driverless DRT one provides shared rides that can include a transfer to a different vehicle and a walk to a pick-up point. After the experiment, respondents are asked about their opinions on driverless vehicles and their socio-economic characteristics. The data collected is used to calibrate an Integrated Choice and Latent Variable model. The findings of this study are considered preliminary due to the limited sample size; however, they provide valuable preliminary insights on the user’s perceptions of regional driverless services. Results reveal that individuals with high income, high education, and living in municipalities with high population density are associated with a more enthusiastic perspective towards driverless vehicles. On the other hand, married people and individuals with lower incomes are more skeptical. Although passengers show interest in adopting driverless modes, they are only willing to pay one-third of what they currently pay for their current mode of transport.


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    Title :

    How do Regional Travelers Perceive Driverless Transit Services? Preliminary Insights from an Integrated Choice and Latent Variable Model


    Additional title:

    Int. J. ITS Res.




    Publication date :

    2025-04-01




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English




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