Engineering topics

Gangadharaiah, Rakesh

Publications and source records attributed to Gangadharaiah, Rakesh.

11 records

DOE OSTI2026

Human Factors and Technologies Design to Improve User Acceptance of Pooled Rideshare for Increasing Transportation System Energy Efficiency

This multi-year project delivered a comprehensive, human-factors-driven framework to understand, model, and improve pooled rideshare (PR) adoption in the United States. Through three large-scale national survey studies involving more than 16,000 participants across multiple cities and demographic groups, the research established one of the most extensive datasets to date on user perceptions, behavioral barriers, and service expectations related to pooled rideshare. These data revealed key human factors barriers of user acceptance of PR and suggested potential actionable experience optimizations that could lead to increased PR usage. This foundational knowledge guided the development of novel human-factors models and behavioral choice models that quantify how psychological, demographic, and trip-level factors influence willingness to pool. Building on these empirical insights, the project developed advanced behavioral modeling tools, including mixed logit and integrated choice and latent variable models, to capture both observable and latent influences on PR adoption. These models significantly improved the ability to predict riders’ acceptance of pooled trips, explaining choice heterogeneity through latent constructs such as safety, service experience, privacy concerns, time sensitivity, and environmental attitudes. Together, these models provide a robust analytical foundation for designing PR systems that more effectively meet user needs. The project translated human-factors insights and behavioral models into actionable technology innovations by extending POLARIS—an agent-based, activity-based travel simulation platform—into a fully functional pooled rideshare simulation environment. New PR modules, acceptance models, and regional scenarios were implemented for Greenville, SC and Austin, TX, enabling high-fidelity validation of algorithmic strategies under realistic demand and traffic conditions. The simulation platform supported the development and evaluation of adaptive discount-based assignment algorithms, enhanced willingness-to-pay formulations, demographic-aware incentive mechanisms, and a proactive joint assignment and repositioning strategy. Simulation results demonstrated substantial gains in pooling uptake, average vehicle occupancy, energy efficiency, and fleet profitability. In Greenville, pooling adoption more than doubled, while reductions in vehicle-miles traveled and energy consumption were significant. In Austin, pooling improvements were achieved with minimal service-quality trade-offs, and profitability increased across all fleet sizes. Through this research, we developed a comprehensive understanding of the human factors barriers that limit user acceptance of pooled rideshare services. These insights enabled the design of human-factors-aware pooled rideshare technologies that more effectively address user concerns and improve adoption rates. By integrating these models into an advanced agent-based simulation framework, we demonstrated that higher adoption of pooled rideshare can lead to measurable improvements in energy efficiency and system performance. Together, these contributions establish a validated pathway from human-centered analysis to technology development and energy-saving outcomes, supporting national goals for more sustainable and efficient mobility systems.

Jia, Yunyi↗

DOE OSTI2025

Understanding and Modeling Pooled Rideshare Acceptance: Influential Factors, Preferred User Experiences, and Implications

This dissertation explores factors influencing pooled rideshare (PR) adoption to provide actionable insights for transportation network companies (TNCs) and policymakers. PR allows travelers to share rides with unknown passengers, offering benefits such as cost reduction and congestion relief. However, adoption remains limited due to safety concerns, privacy issues, and trust in rideshare platforms. A national U.S. survey with 5,385 respondents examined transportation preferences and barriers to PR adoption. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses identified five key factors influencing PR consideration—safety, service experience, privacy, traffic/environment, and time/cost. Second factor analyses examined ways to optimize PR experiences, revealing four factors—comfort/ease of use, convenience, vehicle technology/accessibility, and passenger safety. Privacy concerns, for instance, using regression analysis, were found to reduce the likelihood of PR adoption by 77%, and convenience had the potential to increase it by 156%. The Pooled Rideshare Acceptance Model (PRAM), based on the Technology Acceptance Model, assessed the impact of these factors using the Structural Equation Model (SEM). Privacy, safety, trust, and convenience had a large effect (Cohen's f2 > 0.35) on PR acceptance, while multigroup analyses (PRAMMA) explored 16 demographic variables such as gender, generation, and income, emphasizing the need for tailored strategies. Based on all the statistical analysis and workshops using descriptive statistics, 95 actionable recommendations were made from the riders' perspective. Findings highlight the importance of customized services, user experience improvements, and policy interventions to enhance PR adoption. This dissertation provides a roadmap for future research and policy development, ensuring evidence-based, practical strategies to improve PR services in the U.S. and beyond.

Gangadharaiah, Rakesh↗

DOE OSTI2025

Meeting in the Middle: Pooled Rideshare as Compelling Transportation Offering for Elders

Pooled ridesharing is an innovative new transportation offering with the potential to positively impact traffic and emissions. Through pooling, rideshare can aggregate demand, decreasing the number of vehicles required on the road, but also offering options to those without access to reliable means of transportation. In this study pooled ridesharing is explored in the context of its impacts on seniors. Through analysis of income, location, accessibility, and mode shares, pooled rideshare is demonstrated to offer a compelling middle ground for seniors looking for more affordable transportation than personal vehicles, but who are time sensitive or may not have access to public transportation. An efficient rideshare assignment strategy, which caters to discounts for riders' specific trips, is compared to a more basic heuristic. Results indicate that more riders utilize the service with catered discounts, despite increased wait and travel times over solo rideshare. Additionally, results indicate that although public transportation usage decreases when rideshare service offerings improve, there is not necessarily a direct shift in user base, as even pooled rideshare is still expensive enough to prevent seniors from the lowest household income quartiles from using the service.

Paul, Joseph↗

DOE OSTI2024

Exploration of Factors That Influence Willingness to Consider Pooled Rideshare

Ridesharing has become an increasingly prevalent form of transportation. Although transportation network companies such as Uber and Lyft initially started as a personal rideshare service where individuals ride alone or with people they know, rideshare services have been expanded to pooled rideshare—a dynamic rideshare system where an individual rides with passengers they do not know. Despite the growth in rideshare services worldwide, the use of pooled rideshare in the U.S.A. is relatively low compared to other forms of transportation. A national U.S. survey (N = 5385) was conducted to investigate reasons why individuals are willing or unwilling to consider pooled rideshare. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were performed, where the exploratory factor analysis suggests five factors, specifically,service experience,time/cost,traffic/environment,privacy, andsafety. Model fit indices of the confirmatory factor analysis verified that these five factors can represent the factors behind riders’ willingness to consider pooled rideshare. Furthermore, a binomial logistic regression was conducted to explore how the five factors influence riders’ willingness to consider pooled rideshare. The three factors that influence riders’ willingness to consider pooled rideshare wereservice experience(B = 1.05),traffic/environment(B = .38), andtime/cost(B = .26), while a lack ofprivacy(B = −1.46) can be a deterrent for pooled rideshare.Safetyis important for those who are both willing and unwilling to consider the use of pooled rideshare. Understanding these factors is important for the future of pooled rideshare services in the U.S.A.

Engineering↗

DOE OSTI2023

Factors Influencing Adoption of Pooled Rideshare An Explorative Study on User-Centered Design and Services

Gangadharaiah, Rakesh↗

DOE OSTI2023

Willingness to Consider Pooled Rideshare?: An Exploratory Study on Influential Factors

Rideshare use has grown significantly, beginning with solo riders and evolving to pooled rideshare. Pooled rideshare involves sharing a ride with stranger(s). Despite the growth in rideshare services worldwide, the use of pooled rideshare in the U.S. is relatively low within all rideshare trips and compared to other forms of transportation, e.g., driving one's personal vehicle. A national survey of 5,385 individuals was conducted to identify factors influencing riders' willingness to consider pooled rideshare. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were performed. The survey results indicated five factors: service experience, time/cost, traffic/environment, privacy, and safety. Understanding these factors is crucial for the future of dynamic ridesharing services in the U.S.

Su, Haotian↗

DOE OSTI2023

Exploring Demographic Factors Behind the User Preferences in Ridesharing Services

Ridesharing is an increasingly prevalent form of transportation. Personal and pooled rideshare services are the two modes of ridesharing available on the market. While personal rideshare features higher time efficiency and better service experience, especially in terms of privacy, pooled rideshare has better energy efficiency and can reduce traffic congestion. To encourage users to utilize pooled rideshare, it is crucial to understand the factors behind preferences between pooled and personal rideshare services. This study conducted a survey study on a sample of 2,884 participants from the U.S. The stated-choice method was employed to collect the usage rate of pooled rideshare in designed scenarios. A detailed analysis of pooled rideshare usage rates among participants from different demographic backgrounds was performed. The results demonstrated demographic factors related to variations in pooled rideshare usage rates. Findings from this study explore the impacts of demographic factors on people's choices in ridesharing and provide important information for the modeling and optimization of ridesharing transportation systems.

Su, Haotian↗

DOE OSTI2023

The Development of the Pooled Rideshare Acceptance Model (PRAM)

Due to the advancements in real-time information communication technologies and sharing economies, rideshare services have gained significant momentum by offering dynamic and/or on-demand services. Rideshare service companies evolved from personal rideshare, where riders traveled solo or with known individuals, into pooled rideshare (PR), where riders can travel with one to multiple unknown riders. Similar to other shared economy services, pooled rideshare is beneficial as it efficiently utilizes resources, resulting in reduced energy usage, as well as reduced costs for the riders. However, previous research has demonstrated that riders have concerns about using pooled rideshare, especially regarding personal safety. A U.S. national survey with 5385 participants was used to understand human factor-related barriers and user preferences to develop a novel Pooled Rideshare Acceptance Model (PRAM). This model used a covariance-based structural equation model (CB-SEM) to identify the relationships between willingness to consider PR factors (time/cost, privacy, safety, service experience, and traffic/environment) and optimizing one’s experience of PR factors (vehicle technology/accessibility, convenience, comfort/ease of use, and passenger safety), resulting in the higher-order factor trust service. We examined the factors’ relative contribution to one’s willingness/attitude towards PR and user acceptance of PR. Privacy, safety, trust service, and convenience were statistically significant factors in the model, as were the comfort/ease of use factor and the service experience, traffic/environment, and passenger safety factors. The only two non-significant factors in the model were time/cost and vehicle technology/accessibility; it is only when a rider feels safe that individuals then consider the additional non-significant variables of time, cost, technology, and accessibility. Privacy, safety, and service experience were factors that discouraged the use of PR, whereas the convenience factor greatly encouraged the acceptance of PR. Despite the time/cost factor’s lack of significance, individual items related to time and cost were crucial when viewed within the context of convenience. This highlights that while user perceptions of privacy and safety are paramount to their attitude towards PR, once safety concerns are addressed, and services are deemed convenient, time and cost elements significantly enhance their trust in pooled rideshare services. This study provides a comprehensive understanding of user acceptance of PR services and offers actionable insights for policymakers and rideshare companies to improve their services and increase user adoption.

dynamic rideshare system↗

DOE OSTI2023

A User-Centered Design Exploration of Factors That Influence the Rideshare Experience

The rise of real-time information communication through smartphones and wireless networks enabled the growth of ridesharing services. While personal rideshare services (individuals riding alone or with acquaintances) initially dominated the market, the popularity of pooled ridesharing (individuals sharing rides with people they do not know) has grown globally. However, pooled ridesharing remains less common in the U.S., where personal vehicle usage is still the norm. Vehicle design and rideshare services may need to be tailored to user preferences to increase pooled rideshare adoption. Based on a large, national U.S. survey (N = 5385), the results of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses suggested that four key factors influence riders’ willingness to consider pooled ridesharing: comfort/ease of use, convenience, vehicle technology/accessibility, and passenger safety. A binomial logistic regression was conducted to determine how the four factors influence one’s willingness to consider pooled ridesharing. The two factors that positively influence riders’ willingness to consider pooled ridesharing are vehicle technology/accessibility (B = 1.10) and convenience (B = 0.94), while lack of passenger safety (B = –0.63) and comfort/ease of use (B = –0.17) are pooled ridesharing deterrents. Understanding user-centered design and service factors are critical to increase the use of pooled ridesharing services in the future.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

DOE OSTI2023

Opinions from Users Across the Lifespan about Fully Autonomous and Rideshare Vehicles with Associated Features

Fully autonomous vehicles have the potential to fundamentally transform the future transportation system. While previous research has examined individuals’ perceptions towards fully autonomous vehicles, a complete understanding of attitudes and opinions across the lifespan is unknown. Therefore, individuals’ awareness, acceptance, and preferences towards autonomous vehicles were obtained from 75 participants through interviews with three diverse groups of participants: 20 automotive engineering graduate students who were building an autonomous concept vehicle, 21 non-technical adults, and 34 senior citizens. The results showed that regardless of age, an individual’s readiness to ride in a fully autonomous vehicle and the vehicle’s requirements were influenced by the users’ understanding of autonomous vehicles. All of the engineering students understand what a fully autonomous vehicle is and this group was the most willing to ride especially compared to the seniors, where only half of the seniors knew what a fully autonomous vehicle is and 58.8% were not at all ready to ride one. The desire to have a manual control option or the ability to override the vehicle was common (90% of the engineering students, 95.2% of the adults, and 82.4% of the seniors), especially for individuals who reported not being ready to ride in a fully autonomous vehicle. The majority of all three groups of participants (85% of the engineering students, 81% of the adults, and 52.9% of the seniors) considered it essential that the vehicle should convey information about the vehicle’s status and intended behavior. Diagnostic information about the vehicle was desired by the engineering students (71.4%), who had a technical understanding of autonomous vehicles and current automotive related technologies. When autonomous vehicles are available, most participants anticipate preferring to use them as a rideshare service model (75% of the engineering students, 38% of the adults, and 27% of the seniors) rather than owning (5% of the engineering students, 19% of the adults, and 21% of the seniors) the autonomous vehicle themselves. Regarding the topic of sharing rides with strangers, both the automotive engineering students (90%) and the adults (52.6%) were comfortable with the idea of pooled rideshare in comparison to the seniors (29.4%). In future efforts, it will be important to include potential autonomous vehicle users of a wide age range as well as physical, cognitive, and visual abilities.

Gangadharaiah, Rakesh↗

DOE OSTI2023

What Makes Passengers Uncomfortable In Vehicles Today? An Exploratory Study of Current Factors that May Influence Acceptance of Future Autonomous Vehicles

Autonomous vehicles have the potential to transform lives by providing transportation to a wider range of users. However, with this new method of transportation, user acceptance and comfort are critical for widespread adoption. This exploratory study aims to investigate what makes passengers uncomfortable in existing vehicles to inform the design of future autonomous vehicles. In order to predict what may impact user acceptance for a diverse rider population for future autonomous vehicles, it is important to understand what makes a broad range of passengers uncomfortable today. In this study, interviews were conducted for a total of 75 participants from three diverse groups, including 20 automotive engineering graduate students who are building an autonomous concept vehicle, 21 non-technical adults, and 34 senior citizens. The results revealed both topics which made different groups of passengers uncomfortable as well as how these varied between the groups. The leading contributors to the highest discomfort for all groups were being a passenger in situations with a distracted driver, being in a vehicle that is following too closely, being near a vehicle that is following too closely, and being in foggy conditions. In addition, the results showed that passenger discomfort can be attributed to a broad range of factors ranging from behaviors of the driver/vehicle that one is traveling with/in, the behaviors of other surrounding vehicles, the environmental conditions and the vehicle’s interior, all of which may differ between different groups of passengers. This research provides important findings and insights into factors that may influence users’ acceptance and use of future autonomous vehicles.

Mims, Lauren K.↗