Public Perception of Driverless Trains

Abstract

The global trend for rail automation is increasing but there are very few publications on public perception of the ongoing changes in the railways. In order to fill this gap and to better understand people’s perception of driverless trains, the paper focuses on automation of metro systems with a particular interest in unattended train operation (UTO). A survey seeking a public opinion on UTO was conducted, and the results show that 93 % of female and 72 % of male respondents think that a “fake” driver room should be present on a driverless train. In terms of human error, a great majority of respondents expressed no worries about a train design or maintenance issues. However, staff communication, selected by 36 % males and 43 % females, and a technical failure, highlighted by 50 % of males and 43 % of females, were two issues that raised most safety concerns amongst the respondents. Other results related to passenger’s safety, employment, advantages and limitations of the UTO, amongst other issues, are presented and discussed in the paper.