Rian Mehta

A Trustworthiness of Commercial Airline Pilots (T-CAP) Scale for American Consumers

The purpose of this study was to create a Trustworthiness of Commercial Airline Pilots (T-CAP) scale that could be used with American participants. Previous research (Rice, Mehta, Steelman, & Winter, 2014) created a similar scale that may be used with Indian participants. However, due to cultural differences, it was necessary to recreate an instrument that could be used with American consumers. In fact, the scale developed by American participants did differ significantly, both in terms of length and items to measure trustworthiness of commercial pilots. Participants were used in the entire process of creating the scale, including item generation and testing. A factor analysis using principle components and a varimax rotation produced a single factor for the condition of trustworthiness. Cronbach’s Alpha and Guttman split-half tests verified the reliability of the instrument and an experimental scenario was used to test the discriminability of

Driverless Ambulances: A Possibility, but Will Patients Ride?

Emergency Medical Services (EMS) provide a needed and necessary service in the healthcare industry worldwide. However, many EMS agencies find themselves understaffed to fill the needs of the communities they serve. As a result, this can lead to decreases in the quality of service provided in times of emergencies. Simultaneously, technology is advancing in driverless vehicles which pose the question of the possibility of building driverless ambulances and if so, patients’ willingness to ride in them. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine patients’ willingness to ride in an ambulance operated autonomously as opposed to one driven by a human. Affect measures were collected to determine if affect mediated the relationship between willingness to ride and the type of ambulance configuration. The research used a three-study approach to answer the research questions. First, a general scenario was used to examine patients willingness to ride in an ambulance based on a human or driverless condition. In Study 2, the affect was implemented to serve as a mediator between the type of operator, human or driverless. In Study 3, the researchers used the six universal facial expressions to determine if specific emotions could be identified as mediators between the condition and willingness to ride score. Through the three studies, the findings indicated that patients were less willing to ride in the scenario where the ambulance was operated autonomously than in the traditional configuration. A significant interaction was found between gender and type of ambulance configuration, where females were less willing to ride in the autonomous ambulance than males. Affect was found to act as a mediator between willingness to ride and the type of ambulance. Additionally, through the use of the six universal facial expressions, it was determined that the mediating emotions for males were fear and happiness, and the mediating emotion for females was anger. In general, participants were not willing to ride in driverless ambulances; however, this finding is also limited by the hypothetical scenario posed in this study which was the need to be transported to the hospital due to phoning 911 in an emergency. Additional research should investigate how patients would feel about riding in a driverless ambulance based on the type of condition as it is possible the willingness to ride may be different in a non-emergency scenario. There may also be other factors that could predict a patient’s willingness to ride in a driverless ambulance. In summary, while driverless technology is becoming a near-term possibility, further research is needed into whether patients would be willing to accept this technology for usage.

Which Factors Predict Consumer Willingness to Ride in Driverless Vehicles

Driverless vehicles are already in development and predicted to enter the market in a matter of years. Previous research centered on driverless vehicles has aimed to gauge whether or not consumers are willing to ride in different types of driverless vehicles. However, the current research investigated different variables that may influence consumer willingness to ride in a driverless vehicle. Variables investigated included demographic variables, emotions, and other information collected by researchers based on a theoretical framework. Participants responded to a willingness to ride scale, as well as different questionnaires and demographic surveys. Out of thirteen possible predictor variables, three were significant: happiness, fear, and value. In a regression model, these three variables accounted for 77% of the variance in the data. These findings contribute to the knowledge of consumer perceptions, as well as inform the current market. Implications for future research, as well as limitations, are also discussed.

Perceptions of Cockpit Configurations: A Culture and Gender Analysis

ABSTRACT Objective: With the advancement of technology in recent years the topic of autonomous, pilotless cockpits have emerged. The rhetoric of this article revolves around passenger perceptions and their willingness to fly on board such aircraft. Background: Although studies have been conducted to gauge similar consumer perceptions, this study compared 3 different 2-pilot configurations based on pilot gender to that of the autonomous or automated cockpit. These configurations included 2 male pilots, 1 male and 1 female pilot, and 2 female pilots. Method: 433 participants from India and the United States were recruited using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk and responded to questions designed to measure consumer perceptions on the topic at hand. The study used Rice, Mehta, et al.’s (2015) willingness-to-fly scale to collect the data. Results: The results suggested that all participants were more willing to fly on board all 3 types of 2-pilot configurations as opposed to the autonomous cockpit. However, Indian male participants showed a decrease in willingness to fly on board the 2-female-pilot configurations as opposed to the other 2-human-pilot configurations. Additionally, U.S. participants were much less willing to fly on board the autonomous configuration as compared to their Indian counterparts. Conclusion: The findings suggest that all participants were least willing to fly on aircraft flown completely by an autopilot. Differences were also noted based on pilot gender.

Perceptions Toward the Federal Flight Deck Officer Program and Willingness to Fly

In the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks against the United States, numerous changes were implemented to aviation security. One of those programs was the arming of commercial airline pilots with handguns while they were on duty in a flight capacity. Since its inception, the Federal Flight Deck Officer (FFDO) program has been controversial in nature. The purpose of this study was to examine participant perceptions and their willingness to fly based on whether or not the pilot of their hypothetical flight was armed and participating in the FFDO program. A sample of 812 participants was selected from both India and the United States using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk® (MTurk). In general, the findings indicate that participants were more willing to fly when their pilot was armed; however, American females indicated no significant difference between the two conditions. Affect measures were also collected from participants and suggest that the relationship between the condition and the participants’ willingness to fly was mediated by emotions. The findings of the study provide information on participants’ view of the arming of pilots and suggest that, for the most part, participants in this study seem supportive of FFDO and the arming of pilots of commercial airliners. This finding is limited to participants who take part in online human intelligence tasks through services such as MTurk, who may or may not have been a commercial flight passenger.

Consumers’ Perceptions About Autopilots and Remote-Controlled Commercial Aircraft

Trust, willingness, and comfort to fly on an airliner is a large factor in the consumer’s travel plan decision process. This research aims to further understand consumers’ opinions on the set-up of the cockpit in terms of number of pilots, and seeks establish a line of studies geared towards the development of future cockpit set-ups. The foundation of which will be invaluable to the future of the aviation industry, and could potentially be the stepping-stone to the future. The study asks participants from the United States and India to rate their trust, willingness and comfort to fly on a commercial flight piloted by three different cockpit scenarios: a traditional two pilot cockpit; a hybrid with one pilot in the cockpit and one remote control pilot on the ground; or two remote control pilots on the ground. The research shows, as predicted, that participants would trust the traditional set-up more than the hybrid mix, while having negative feelings of trust towards the completely automated aircraft with two remote control pilots on the ground.

Time Pressure Has Limited Benefits for Human-Automation Performance

It has been posited that under time pressure, humans tend to comply more often with automation recommendations. Previous research has shown that time pressure can enhance human-automation performance when reliability of the automated aid is high. In the current study, time pressure and difficulty level of the target detection task was manipulated. The results of this study show that human-automation performance was benefited by time pressure, but only in the condition when the task was difficult and the automation was highly reliable.