Enhancing launch pads for decision-making in intelligent mobility on-demand

Abstract

Interacting with an application for shared mobility is a complex spatio-temporal task, considering the degrees of freedom in planning and preferences together with the dynamics of supply. Traditional approaches also rely on the disclosure of inherently private, discrete information from both vehicle and client to perform ride matching. Catering for both aspects, we have previously suggested an intuitive interface concept, launch pads. In this paper we extend launch pads by enhancing the visualisation in a third dimension. This representation provides a client with a more detailed choice set which should lead to improved decision-making. To examine the value of this enhancement, we implement a multi-agent simulation and observe a client agent's responses to 3D launch pads visualised according to three different fare models. Results show that a client's flexibility in space is dependent on the fare model chosen, and it is this offering which can increase a client's utility.

Keywords::

• ad hoc ride sharing
• human–computer interaction
• user interface
• route planning
• spatial cognitive engineering

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Email: [email protected]

2. http://www.flinc.org

3. http://www.carmacarpool.com

4. http://www.zimride.com

5. http://www.lyft.me

6. http://www.side.cr

7. http://www.liftshare.com

8. http://www.gocatch.com

9. http://www.uber.com

10. http://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/trafficlayer

11. Lowercase for client, uppercase for vehicle.

12. http://repast.sourceforge.net/

13. http://www.postgresql.org/

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Australian Research Council Linkage Project [LP120200130].