Female Voice Agents in Fully Autonomous Vehicles Are Not Only More Likeable and Comfortable, But Also More Competent

Abstract

Driving agents can provide an effective solution to improve drivers’ trust in and to manage interactions with autonomous vehicles. Research has focused on voice-agents, while few have explored robot-agents or the comparison between the two. The present study tested two variables - voice gender and agent embodiment, using conversational scripts. Twenty participants experienced autonomous driving using the simulator for four agent conditions and filled out subjective questionnaires for their perception of each agent. Results showed that the participants perceived the voice only female agent as more likeable, more comfortable, and more competent than other conditions. Their final preference ranking also favored this agent over the others. Interestingly, eye-tracking data showed that embodied agents did not add more visual distractions than the voice only agents. The results are discussed with the traditional gender stereotype, uncanny valley, and participants’ gender. This study can contribute to the design of in-vehicle agents in the autonomous vehicles and future studies are planned to further identify the underlying mechanisms of user perception on different agents.

Effects of Wording and Gendered Voices on Acceptability of Voice Assistants in Future Autonomous Vehicles

“…Research has suggested that female-sounding autonomous vehicle voice assistants are in general seen to be more likeable and friendly [7]. The authors suggest that the gender of a voice assistant's voice in a fully autonomous vehicle has a higher influence on the perceived anthropomorphism, animacy and social presence scales, than the potential (visual) embodiment of an agent.…”

“…18 participants (9 male and 9 female, 19-55 years of age), with a valid driving license, were recruited to take part after the study was approved by the University's ethics committee. The participants were recruited from UK (6), UAE (7) and India (5), and hence had a range of mixed backgrounds. They were recruited by opportunistic sampling via social media and through direct or indirect friends and family.…”

“…Owing to the importance a voice assistant may play in an autonomous vehicle, it is vital to ensure that the prompts given by it engage the attention of the driver at the right time with the right level of information for the given context, especially in the critical case of transfer of control. In an autonomous vehicle, the gender of the voice assistant's voice has been shown to have an influence on how anthropomorphic it is perceived as [7]. Commercial voice assistants frequently have a female-sounding voice as default, and research has shown that people tend to find female voices more agreeable and pleasant [16].…”

Human Factors Considerations for Teaming between Construction Workersand Voice-based Intelligent Virtual Agent (VIVA)

“…Ernst and Herm-Stapelberg (2020) found that female-voiced virtual assistants are perceived to be more likable than their male-voiced counterpart, even if no difference in their ability exists. A recent study (Dong, Lawson, Olsen, & Jeon, 2020) showed that female voice agents were rated even more "competent" as well as more "likable" and "comfortable". Testing the agent's different profiles on the construction site would be of interest.…”

Turning HART into HEART: Human Emotional AI/Robot Teaming

“…In addition, human-emotional AI/robot teaming can be applied to various acquisition & development settings, such as maintenance activities (e.g., aircraft, ship, truck), co-operating in an automated vehicle (Dong et al, 2020) or spaceship, battlefield casualty care or evacuation in the army, on-board ship firefighting, where the emotions of human participants can be used to adjust how AI/robot interacts with their human partners.…”