Researchers Explore How to Prevent Sexual Activity in Autonomous Ride-Hailing Vehicles

Pavlo Bazilinskyy never expected his research to lead him to PornHub. An assistant professor at Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands, he has spent more than a decade studying AI-enabled interactions between humans and robots. For this inquiry, he typed “public transport” into the search bar of the adult site’s amateur section—and found 297 results.

“Human behavior is difficult to predict,” Bazilinskyy says. That unpredictability lies at the heart of his work. Driverless taxis have begun carrying passengers in several countries, including the United States, while trains, planes, and conventional cars have a long history of hosting antisocial conduct in their semi-private or public interiors. Examples range from prom-night limousines and the “Mile High Club” to Tom Cruise’s famous dance aboard the Chicago L in Risky Business—and the material Bazilinskyy found on PornHub.

What might passengers do when no driver is present to intervene? What are they already doing, and could vehicle design persuade them to stop before an incident begins?

This week, Bazilinskyy and colleagues from systems engineering, computer science, psychology, and tourism studies are leading an industry workshop devoted to those questions. Participants will consider how to discourage sexual activity in self-driving cars. The researchers argue that examining this provocative scenario can help “stress-test” the broader role autonomous vehicles may eventually play as shared spaces governed by social norms.

The workshop emphasizes prevention not simply because the organizers are killjoys, although Alexandros Rouchitsas, an engineering psychologist and co-host, acknowledges that they are “taking the side of the parents, the elderly—we are not the cool people here.” Their concern is that sexual behavior in autonomous vehicles could damage public perceptions of an otherwise beneficial technology.

“We want to see automated mobility solutions accepted and trusted by the general public,” Rouchitsas says. Self-driving transportation could significantly improve mobility for older adults, children, and people with disabilities, particularly in places where driving is faster or sometimes unavoidable. The technology may also expand from private ride-hailing services into public transit, where everyone should be able to travel safely and comfortably. “We want automated mobility solutions to be seen as equitable, serious, and societally minded,” he says.

Rouchitsas worries that autonomous vehicles could be appropriated by revelers, drug users, and others seeking a private setting for hedonistic behavior, reminiscent of tourism on some Greek islands. “You know ‘Bang Bus’?” he says. “We don’t want that.”

The four-hour workshop, scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m., is part of an industry conference in Gothenburg, Sweden, focused on interactions between people, vehicles, and broader transportation systems. Organizers expect attendees from academia and industry. Gothenburg is home to Volvo Cars and technology supplier SmartEye, while BMW and Google are among the conference sponsors. Participants will be asked to propose physical features and design interventions that discourage sexual activity. The session will focus on consensual encounters, according to its organizers.

Rouchitsas, who studies human-machine interaction, hopes participants will develop creative approaches to preventing unwanted behavior. Among his initial ideas are transparent vehicle interiors and warning lights that activate when sensors detect conduct deemed inappropriate. The organizers plan to publish a paper based on the workshop’s findings.

Sex is the attention-grabbing focus, but it also represents an important and largely overlooked question in the future of human-machine interaction, Bazilinskyy says. Insights from the exercise could help designers, companies, and lawmakers establish rules and safeguards for shared autonomous spaces, including future self-driving buses.

Measures designed to prevent sexual activity could also help deter robbery, bullying, and violence. “This example could help industry and academia design solutions for other problems,” Bazilinskyy says.

Source link