مهندسی عمران شریف (Mar 2024)

Which parents are able to comment on using autonomous vehicles for their child's school trip? (a case study of Kerman city)

  • S. Kamyab,
  • A. R. Mamdoohi

DOI
https://doi.org/10.24200/j30.2023.61308.3160
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 39.2, no. 4
pp. 43 – 51

Abstract

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Autonomous vehicles are a proper option for children's school trips due to their high potential. Parents are the main decision-makers in choosing their children's school trip mode, and it is essential for policymakers to be aware of their behavior and willingness, especially when technology is not yet available to the public. Previous studies of self-driving cars (SAVs) have focused on the rejection or acceptance of this technology by adult users, while SAVs are an attractive option for students' educational trips. Few studies in this field emphasize the need to do it, but in the current study, unlike previous studies, the factors affecting the behavior of parents who are unable to make a decision in this regard have been investigated using mathematical modeling. The virtual link of the current study questionnaire (in six sections) was uploaded by the school principals in the educational groups of the selected schools with the parents after experimental questioning and correction. Data analysis shows that almost a high percentage of parents (29%) have not been able to give a definite opinion about whether or not their child uses autonomous vehicles. In this article (for the first time), the factors affecting the inability of parents to make decisions are studied. The binary logit model on the May 2021 questionnaire of parents of fourth to ninth-grade students in Kerman schools (1435 cases) has a correct estimation percentage of 77.1 and a good fit coefficient equal to 0.4. The estimated model shows that the behavioral characteristics and accidental history of parents influence their decisions. In the case of Kerman, parents who have a history of fatal accidents in close relatives and who have a high level of concern about the way they drive and the possibility of a high-traffic accident in public transportation have not been able to decide whether to reject or accept this technology.

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