# Teenagers and Automated Vehicles: Are They Ready to Use Them?
###### Abstract  
Mobility needs, expectations, and concerns vary across age groups and are closely linked to users' views on the future of the road transport system. Automated vehicles are expected to have a significant impact on the future of the road transport system, and pilot deployments are increasingly being tested in Europe and beyond, which is also thanks to the evolving regulatory landscape. As a result, several studies have started to analyse citizens' attitudes towards this technology. However, very few studies have focused on teenagers' views on automated vehicles, although today's children and teenagers could be among the first users of such vehicles. Studying teenagers and the way they envisage automated vehicles in the future is of particular significance in defining transport planning strategies and supporting upcoming policy orientations. To cover this gap, the present study aims to explore teenagers' views about automated vehicles and whether and how they could fit into their future transport setting. A series of on-line and face-to-face focus groups, a demonstration of an automated vehicle prototype, supporting engagement activities, and a post-pre survey were used to collect their views on the topic. The results show that even though the teenagers acknowledged the potential advantages, they also expressed concerns in relation to the interactions with other road users, to automated driving systems' reliability, to safety, and to data privacy. In particular, these safety concerns revealed an unwillingness on the part of the teenagers to be among the first users of automated vehicles. automated vehicles; teenagers; expectations; transportation +
Footnote †: journal: Medical  
Understanding the mobility and transport needs of children and teenagers and the relevant influencing factors could support the deployment of adapted transport services that can suit these needs better and reduce the concerns teenagers and parents have regarding the mobility to school and other destinations. While children are fully dependent on their families for mobility, teenagers normally become more and more familiar with the transport system, increasing their independent mobility and starting to develop their own travel patterns and mobility habits, which are influenced by their family habits, socio-economic conditions, geographical location, and other variables. Previous work on the topic has identified that the use and ownership of a private vehicle would fit into teenagers' future transport and mobility habits [4; 5], while other studies demonstrate a change in tendency, where young generations would not be so eager to use a private vehicle, buy one, or obtain a driving license [6; 7; 8]; moreover, other studies have reported a possible decrease in the time dedicated to the driving activity [9]. These tendencies could be influenced by many factors, such as increasing environmental concerns, new forms of mobility, (e.g., shared mobility), and the introduction of new technologies, such as electric and automated vehicles (AVs). The future of road transport systems will be shaped by the influences of four general trends, namely automation, connectivity, decarbonisation, and sharing, and these will trigger multiple changes at the societal level. The development and deployment of AVs plays a key role in the automation of the driving task [10]. AVs can be referred to as vehicles in which the role of a human driver is limited and will in the future be, possibly, non-existent, which can heavily impact the travel behaviour of their users [11]. The current paper studies the views of teenagers regarding Level 5 automation (full automation with no human intervention under all conditions), as defined by the SAE International [12]. Nevertheless, during the activities the teenagers could refer to their experiences with any level of automation. As with all new technologies, AVs also raise many questions related to their actual use, safety implications, etc. Some studies have already looked at parents' views when faced with AVs [13; 14].