AbstractAbstract

As autonomous shuttles eliminate on-board staff, public transportation faces a critical loss of human assistance. We propose integrating humanoid robots to complement autonomous shuttles, restoring essential passenger support and safety roles. This novel concept directly addresses this critical gap and could ensure user-friendly and inclusive transit experiences in automated systems in the future. Our perspective highlights the relevance of humanoid robots for future mobility systems, with broad implications for efficient, accessible, and resilient transportation systems.

However, the sector faces severe personnel shortages[⁴](https://www.nature.com/articles/s44333-026-00088-2#ref-CR4 "Godfrey, J. Transit workforce development challenges and mitigation practices. Tech. Rep., San Jose State University. College of Business.
https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/75399

             (Mineta Transportation Institute, 2024)."). Transit agencies around the world report difficulties in recruiting and retaining front-line staff. As a result, even basic passenger assistance services are being reduced or eliminated, creating a growing gap between user needs and service provision.

We propose that so-called humanoid robots – autonomous, human-like machines capable of physical interaction and social communication – can help bridge this gap. Humanoid robots have a strength all their own: compatibility with the existing world. They can move around in environments that were built for humans and react to changes in real time. For example, if an object is in the way or a new task needs to be taken on spontaneously. This flexibility is special and makes humanoid robots an important building block for the next level of automation, especially in dynamic working environments where conventional robotic systems reach their limits. Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics enable such systems to act as guides, helpers, or assistants in transit environments. They can navigate crowded stations, communicate with users naturally, and offer reliable assistance when human presence is lacking.

So far, the potential of using robots in public transport systems remains largely unexplored and only very few papers cover the topic.

Axelsson et al.¹⁷ explored the usage of a Furhat robot, i.e., a human-like robot head, to talk to bus passengers and provide information. They applied a Wizard-of-Oz experiment with an on-board camera and a teleoperation interface.

Overall, results of the cited studies show that test participants prefer friendly-looking robots over more functional- or authoritarian-looking ones. Giving clear reasons or explanations helps make robots more accepted and effective at guiding people. At the same time, it is important to carefully assess that humanoid designs do not reinforce existing social or gender biases²³. Besides public transport-related studies, a few studies analyze the use of robots in other transport contexts, such as controlling intersections^24,[²⁵](https://www.nature.com/articles/s44333-026-00088-2#ref-CR25 "Ghaffar, F. Controlling Traffic with Humanoid Social Robot. Preprint at
https://arxiv.org/abs/2204.04240

             (2022).") and delivering parcels[<sup>26</sup>](https://www.nature.com/articles/s44333-026-00088-2#ref-CR26 "Mourad, A., Puchinger, J. & Van Woensel, T. Integrating autonomous delivery service into a passenger transportation system. Int. J. Prod. Res. 59, 2116–2139 (2021).")<sup>,</sup>[<sup>27</sup>](https://www.nature.com/articles/s44333-026-00088-2#ref-CR27 "De Maio, A., Ghiani, G., Laganà, D. & Manni, E. Sustainable last-mile distribution with autonomous delivery robots and public transportation. Transp. Res. Part C Emerg. Technol. 163, 104615 (2024).").

My ThoughtsMy Thoughts

A pretty common sense paper. Nothing really mind blowing here.