Journal Article

A scoping review of women’s experiences and barriers in automated vehicle research

Soro, Alessandro, Schroeter, Ronald, Abusafia, Alaa H. A.

2025

Overview

Automated vehicles (AVs) have the potential to enhance transportation for all, but current research suggests that women remain less engaged and more hesitant toward their adoption. This scoping review systematically analyses 34 peer-reviewed studies published between 2016 and 2025 to assess how women’s experiences, needs, and concerns are represented in AV research. Using thematic analysis, we identify key facilitators and barriers to AV adoption and map them onto a Socio-Ecological Model spanning five levels: individual, interpersonal, institutional, community, and policy. Our findings reveal a critical gap: while gender is frequently recorded as a demographic variable, women are rarely centred as primary users or co-creators in AV design and evaluation. Most studies rely on quantitative, mixed-gender approaches, with limited use of qualitative or participatory methods that could surface the nuanced realities of women’s mobility. As a result, vital concerns—such as safety, emotional comfort, caregiving roles, and design exclusion—are often overlooked in AV research. To address this, we introduce the WISE-AV Framework (Women-Informed Socio-Ecological Framework), which organises the multi-level influences shaping women’s engagement with AVs. This framework extends the Socio-Ecological Model with a gender lens and integrates principles from feminist HCI to emphasise transparency, participation, and embodied experience. Our study offers both theoretical and practical contributions: it provides a roadmap for researchers, designers, and policymakers to create more inclusive AV systems, and it delivers actionable recommendations to ensure that AVs are not just technologically advanced—but socially equitable. We argue that AVs can only fulfil their promise of safer, smarter mobility when they are designed not for a generic “user,” but with the diverse realities of women in mind.

• Publisher: Public Library of Science,PLOS,Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subject: Analysis / Automation / Automobiles / Autonomous vehicles / Beliefs, opinions and attitudes / Biology and Life Sciences / Decision making / Demographic variables / Design / Ecological models / Engineering and Technology / Female / Gender / Gender equality / Human-computer interaction / Humans / Interdisciplinary aspects / Perceptions / Research and Analysis Methods / Social Sciences / Transportation / Women - psychology / Women automobile drivers