Requirement Analysis for Personal Autonomous Driving Robotic Systems in Urban Mobility

Urban mobility is changing due to the emergence of new technologies like autonomously navigating robots. In the future, various transport operators and micro mobility services will be integrated in an increasingly complex mobility system, potentially realizing benefits such as a reduction of congestion, travel costs, and emissions. The field of personal robotic transport agents is projected to increasingly play a role in urban mobility, hence in this study, prospective target groups and corresponding user needs concerning human-following robots for smart urban mobility applications are investigated. Building on an extensive literature review, three focus groups with a total of 19 participants are conducted, utilizing scenario-based design and personas. Results show clearly definable user needs and potential technological requirements for mobile robots deployed in urban road environments. The two most mentioned potential applications were found in the fields of leisure applications and in healthcare for elderly people. Based on these focus group results, two personal automated driving robots which differ in function, operation and interaction were designed. The focus group-based results and derived requirements shed light on the importance of context-sensitivity of robot design