How do Automated Vehicles Influence Other Road Users and Sometimes Elicit Uncivil Behaviors?

Abstract

Automated Vehicles (AVs) must deal with uncivil human behaviors and may even encourage new ones. To provide an in-depth understanding of such behaviors, we studied interactions between AVs (shuttles, personal cars, delivery robots) and other road users on highways, urban roads, and pedestrian areas based on extensive data from 6 real-world tests in France. These interactions were categorized into prototypical cases, which were analyzed using a descriptive model we developed to capture their situational, motivational, and behavioral factors. The results show that uncivil behavioral patterns involve mixed emotional and trajectory management, focusing on displacement, space sharing, or personal interaction. Uncivil behavior is thus defined by its disrespectful outcomes on traffic fluidity, disputed right of way, and personal offense (e.g., space intrusion, aggressivity, griefing of AVs). Improved infrastructure, better information for other road users, and enhanced AV behavior could mitigate uncivil behaviors and facilitate AV acceptance.