Changing mobility scenarios are leading to innovative vehicle concepts. The absence of the driver has opened up a wide range of modified interiors and seating configurations for highly automated vehicles, which are the focus of research.With the ongoing automatization in the car industry, new questions arise about human factors. From SAE level 3, conditional driving automation allows the driver to disengage from the driving task without the need for supervision. With an increasing degree of automation, the active vehicle driver is transformed into a passive vehicle passenger. This gives the driver the possibility to deal with non-driving related activities and tasks (NDRA, NDRT) whenever the automation is active. The question of what people are likely to do during an automated ride has mostly been addressed via online surveys or by analyzing other means of transportation like train and bus. Various studies examining train or bus journeys using different methods such as (online) surveys or observation of passengers in different means of transport show a wide variety of activities such as listening to music, looking at the surroundings, relaxing, talking on the phone, reading or working, and the use of electronic devices such as laptops, tablets and smartphones [1][2]. Other studies additionally examined seating parameters such as seat and recline angle [3][4][5][6][7][8].However, knowing about desired activities allows researchers and developers to design future car interior including seat and seating position, internal HMI, air-conditioning and the automated driving functions according to user needs. Highly automated and autonomous vehicles enable different seating postures.Space in front of the seat allows the passenger more range for movement and postures [4]. Moreover, several studies contribute to the space managements of interior design in the future and show significant effects of NDRTs on driving postures concerning the seat positions and backrest angles [3,8].
In the UNICARagil project, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, four modular autonomous vehicle concepts are de-veloped. The paper deals with an autonomous taxi designed for ride sharing and non-driving tasks and activities. An online-based survey is conducted to evaluate integrated components and features of the seating environment under different conditions of use. The expectations, preferences and wishes of 181 survey par-ticipants are compared with the aspects and features to be offered in the auto-TAXI. The results show that using the equipment elements of the seating envi-ronment depends on various influencing factors such as trip duration, type of trip, privacy and activity. In general, users' expectations of the autoTAXI's equipment elements are met.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.