Social Interaction in Mixed Traffic: A Scoping Review

Abstract

Road traffic is a social context where interactions between road users influence their emotional experiences and behavior. However, with the advancement of driving automation, traditional forms of human-to-human social interaction in traffic will be challenged. While previous research has explored new forms of communication, such as eHMIs for mixed traffic, less is known about the influential factors in decision-making for such communications and their experiential outcomes. To address this gap, we conducted a scoping review of 114 studies and proposed the Social Traffic Interaction Framework (STIF), which describes social interaction among road users across five phases: situational assessment, decision, action, acknowledgment, and affective outcome. To assess the real-world applicability of the STIF framework, 25 traffic scenarios were collected through interviews and analyzed according to the framework. Our findings provide a theoretical foundation for understanding and designing social interaction in mixed traffic that promotes safer, more empathetic, and emotionally positive experiences.