Future prospects for automated driving technology in the post-pandemic era

Abstract

Although automated driving (AD) technology has been considered to be a good match for sharing services, user's psychological resistance to use various types of the sharing services by using the AD technology is expected to increase in a society that has experienced COVID-19 pandemic. The amount of human movement decreased, and B-to-C logistics increased significantly, as a result of the requirement for behavioral change to avoid enclosure, congestion, and closeness as a countermeasure against infectious diseases. This manuscript discusses not only the situations where the AD technology is required and effective but also the future prospects of the AD technology such as what new technologies are expected to be developed in the future.