Robo-Taxi service fleet sizing: assessing the impact of user trust and willingness-to-use

TL;DR

This study investigates how user trust and willingness-to-use influence the required fleet size of Robo-Taxis, using multi-agent simulations and survey data from a French metropolitan area.

Contribution

It introduces the integration of user trust and willingness-to-use factors into fleet size modeling for Robo-Taxis, highlighting their significant impact.

Findings

User trust and willingness-to-use significantly affect Robo-Taxi demand.

Survey data integration alters fleet size estimates.

Trust variation correlates with sociodemographic attributes.

Abstract

The first commercial fleets of Robo-Taxis will be on the road soon. Today important efforts are made to anticipate future Robo-Taxi services. Fleet size is one of the key parameters considered in the planning phase of service design and configuration. Based on multi-agent approaches, the fleet size can be explored using dynamic demand response simulations. Time and cost are the most common variables considered in such simulation approaches. However, personal taste variation can affect the demand and consequently the required fleet size. In this paper, we explore the impact of user trust and willingness-to-use on the Robo-Taxi fleet size. This research is based upon simulating the transportation system of the Rouen-Normandie metropolitan area in France using MATSim, a multi-agent activity-based simulator. A local survey is made in order to explore the variation of user trust and their willingness-to-use future Robo-Taxis according to the sociodemographic attributes. Integrating survey data in the model shows the significant importance of traveler trust and willingness-to-use varying the Robo-Taxi use and the required fleet size.