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Abstract:As driverless vehicles proliferate, it is possible that this technology will be applied in mass transport vehicles. School buses may be suited for autonomous operations as they follow set routes and schedules. However, a research gap exists in whether or not parents would be willing to have their children ride in autonomously operated school buses. The purpose of this study was to examine parents' willingness to allow their child to ride in an autonomous school bus. Participant gender and nationality were also two independent variables, along with affect measures as a possible mediating variable. The research used a two-study approach. In study one, it was found that participants were less willing to have their child ride in a driverless school bus than a traditional human-operated vehicle. In study two, findings suggest a significant interaction between the type of driver, participant gender, and nationality. In general, American females were less willing than Indian females and overall, Americans were less willing than Indians in the driverless conditions. Affect was found to be a mediating variable, which suggests that emotions were playing a role in the responses of participants. The paper concludes with theoretical contributions, practical applications, and suggestions for future research.

The basis for many of the performance improvement tools of today started 100 years ago with the work of Walter Shewhart at Western Electric's Hawthorne plant in Illinois. Previously quality was controlled by having multiple inspectors look at a finished product for defects, then return it for repair or discard.Shewart recognized that measuring and understanding the steps in the process, would signal when variation was occurring. It was Shewhart's development of the statistical process control (SPC) chart that provided a visual representation of variation. An SPC chart builds on a simple run chart by adding a measure of variation that differentiates between what we now refer to as common-cause variation (random variation) and special cause-variation (non-random variation). These concepts are coming into medicine, with the understanding that frequently used simple run charts, although easy to create, do not allow an identification of a true variation. Process control took an additional step forward with the contributions of W. Edwards Deming and Joseph Juran. Deming popularized the PDSA (Plan Do Study Act) cycle and Juran worked in post war Japan, identifying concepts such as the Pareto Principle (80% of the problems come from 20% of causes.)The rapid expansion in capability and quality from Japan's manufacturing complex subsequently ensued.During the gas crisis of the 1980's US auto manufacturers recognized the need to compete with foreign imports and sought to learn techniques such as the Toyota Production Method, LEAN and Six Sigma. It also forced US companies to recognize the vital importance of the front-line worker in identifying areas of risk as well as providing possible solutions. This has been challenging in Medicine. The top down management style of many hospitals has made adoption of these concepts challenging. Further, surgeons were trained in hierarchical environments and taught that any error was a personal failure requiring blame. This inhibited honest discussion of the system /human interaction. Fortunately, this is beginning to change. Measuring and Analyzing DataDeming, Shewart and Juran all recognized that if you don't measure something, you can't fix it. They did not have the types of incredible computing power currently at our fingertips. It is quite easy to upload

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The purpose of this study was to examine a person’s willingness to ride (WTR) in an autonomous bus. Across two studies, we presented participants with hypothetical scenarios about riding in a driverless city or inter-city bus. We manipulated who was onboard the bus (participant, romantic partner, or child), the location of the bus (seven different countries), and the type of driver (human or driverless). In Study 1, participants were less willing to ride a driverless city bus compared to one driven by a human driver. In Study 2, participants’ WTR scores were influenced by participant gender, the person on board, and location, with scores dropping dramatically when the bus was located outside of the USA, or when a child was on board. The current data suggest that Americans are not entirely ready for driverless buses, mainly when someone they care about is on board, or the bus is located outside the USA.