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Automated Vehicles in the Rouen-Normandie Metropolis: experiments with current On-Demand Transport users

The Rouen-Normandie Metropolis wishes to evaluate the relevance of deploying  an automated vehicle service for a specific use case: On-Demand Transport. This project examines how, and to what extent connectivity and automation can improve quality of service for On-Demand Transport in Rouen. In other words, the goal of the Metropolis is to understand in which conditions an on-demand automated vehicle service could address the shortcomings of the current On-Demand Transport system. The agility of the system would thus be improved while serving the mobility needs of specific groups such as school children or the elderly. In addition, it could improve the accessibility of rural to suburban areas that are not served by traditional public transit lines.

This study relies on semi-directive interviews of current On-Demand Transport users who were invited to test an automated shuttle service on the territory. The interviews were conducted before and after the experiment. 6t-bureau de recherche was thus able to estimate the acceptability of vehicle automation for a On-Demand Transport service. Moreover, this project shone light on the levers that may influence the acceptability of automated shuttle technologies as well as the expectations of users in terms of quality of service improvements.