User acceptance concerning automated driving The influence of the environment on the acceptance level of the user on automated driving

Passenger vehicle mobility enables daily activity of business and consumers. It therefore provides a valuable contribution to welfare in the Netherlands. A next step in the evaluation of mobility are automated vehicles. The benefits from automated vehicles are a more stable traffic flow and reduce of emissions. But to use automated vehicles people have to give over the control of the vehicle. However, literature indicates that this is a very critical point. This thesis has investigated the desired level of automated driving in a particular situation. First, the different levels of automated driving are studied. Followed by the investigation of the different environments of the driver. The environment of the driver can be divided in a personal and a physical environment. With the knowledge of this information the desired level of automated driving was researched. The research method that is used for this problem is the stated preferences method. With the use of this method a rating experiment is made. With the gathered data from the experiment an ordinal regression model is made. The results of this model indicate that the type of road and the length of the trip are the most important aspects that influence the level of automated driving. Also the traffic density plays a role, which in this case is with medium the most optimal situation for automated driving. Car manufactures must provide more information about automated driving to convince the public to use automated vehicles. Also, more test about the reliability of these vehicles must be provided to convince the public that it is a safe why to travel. Policy makers must change the legal framework to allow automated driving on public roads. Also, studies must be made to the road design and the feasibility to implement automated driving on the Dutch road network.