‘Driving pleasure’ is king

The adoption of automated or self-driving vehicles in New Zealand cities is dependent on social meanings, feelings and cultural practices, according to new research.

PhD student Moayad Shammut and Professor Imran Muhammad from Massey University’s school of people, environment and planning, have had their research article Automated mobilities and society: Why do social meanings matter? published in the journal Cities. 

It explores factors that could influence the adoption of autonomous vehicles (AVs) in Aotearoa in the future and found that a society’s car culture is heavily influential when it comes to adopting AVs.

As a result of Kiwi car culture, the study finds that – overall – society in this country tends to be inclined towards accepting AVs with lower automation levels to maintain “driving pleasure” and allow the experience of exploring unplanned destinations.

Study data was collected from public Facebook pages across a five-year period when the AV debate gained momentum in society. Qualitative content analysis was conducted for a dataset drawn from 57 posts with more than 4,200 comments.

Shammut, pictured below, says it became clear through analysis that AVs are associated with meanings of safety, travel freedom and control.

“Interestingly, it became clear in the research that many New Zealanders held the belief that AVs would be helpful for productivity as an occupant could eat, study work or apply make-up instead of actively driving,” he adds.

“AVs could also allow more travel freedom and independence especially for older people and disabled people, children and anyone without a driving licence.”

The findings also uncover new aspects of how and why the public could develop trust in AVs.

“We found that trusting AVs not only relates to trusting the technology per se, but also relates to the reputation and achievements of the developers and regulators of these vehicles,” says Shammut.

Muhammad says the study contributes to the mobilities paradigm by enriching our understanding of the meanings and competencies associated with adopting AVs.

“The study draws attention to the ways in which social meanings could be incorporated in policy interventions to better inform urban planning and transport infrastructure decisions that would shape smart cities of the future.”