Public acceptance of automated highways: results from national focus groups

This article reports on a study to assess public acceptance issues pertaining to an Automated Highway System (AHS). AHS is a major new program initiative by the US Department of Transportation to develop a prototype of a surface transportation system which assigns vehicle control to a combination of infrastructure and vehicle technologies. Given the revolutionary nature of such a system, this study investigated issues the public could raise regarding both the user and community acceptance. The four focus groups which were conducted as part of the study raised a host of possible positive and adverse features of the system which should be addressed as part of the development program.