Acceptance Factors for Future Workplaces in Highly Automated Trucks

Abstract

Once highly automated vehicles become available, drivers will be freed to perform activities other than driving when automated driving mode is activated. Such activities could include relaxing, reading, exercising, or working. The work of professional drivers such as truck drivers can be expected to be especially affected by this technology and to change accordingly as highly automated trucks enable the completion of other working related tasks during automated driving. But will such mobile working places be accepted by truck drivers? In this paper, we report on a survey (N=23) assessing technology acceptance towards Future Workplaces in highly Automated Trucks (FWAT). Results show that a majority of drivers is rather skeptical about FWAT, but that acceptance can be expected to strongly vary. Our paper provides some guidance on how to explain this variance and presents relevant acceptance factors for future FWAT usage.