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Autonomously driving shuttles with electric drive are envisioned to play a complementary role in public transportation in the near future. These vehicles may be used in scenarios where the use of full-sized busses is not technically feasible or economically viable. The compact size of automated shuttles offers the opportunity to operate in narrow streets, to connect suburban areas and to supply on-demand first and last mile services. The integration of an on-demand shuttle service into public transportation was tested and evaluated in a real-world trial in Hamburg-Bergedorf (Germany). A survey covering a large variety of aspects of user experience was created and distributed among users. Overall, the passengers were satisfied with the on-demand shuttle service and indicated that they could imagine to use such a service in the future. The field trial provided valuable insights and revealed the development potential of on-demand shuttle services in public transportation, motivating to continue research in this area.

New mobility concepts in public transport will benefit from automated driving systems. Nevertheless, fully automated vehicles are not expected within the next years. For this reason, a remote operating fallback authority might be a promising solution. To cope with highly complex automation tasks, teleoperation with a distinct human-machine interaction could be used. This work describes a task analysis in order to derive requirements for the design of a future control center workplace which deals with the control of driverless shuttles in combination with mobility-on-demand services in public transport. The results will contribute to create an efficient, valid and capable human-machine interaction concept for vehicle teleoperation.

Level Crossings represent vulnerable points in the European land transport system, since collisions at level crossings account for a high number of fatalities and serious injuries among road users and lead to major disruptions of railway operations. This paper presents part of the ongoing work conducted in the SAFER-LC EU project, namely an overview of indicators for level crossing safety solutions, taking into account the road and rail users’ perspective. The paper identifies key safety criteria concerning the requirements coming from various types of level crossing users. The analysis focuses on human errors, attentional processes and risk perception, while paying special attention to vulnerable users such as pedestrians. The results are discussed in the context of a Human Factors methodological framework which analyses how technological and non-technological safety measures can be better adapted from a user perspective to make level crossings more self-explanatory and ‘forgiving’. The implications for the implementation and evaluation of ‘user-friendly’ safety measures at level-crossings are also discussed.