Social Interaction in Mixed Traffic: A Scoping Review

Road traffic is a social context where interactions between road users influence their emotional experiences and behavior. However, with the advancement of driving automation, traditional forms of human-to-human social interaction in traffic will be challenged. While previous research has explored new forms of communication, such as e-HMIs for semi-automated traffic, less is known about the influential factors in decision-making for such communications and their experiential outcomes. To address this gap, we conducted a systematic review of 114 studies and proposed the Social Traffic Interaction Framework (STIF), which describes social interaction among road users across five phases: situational assessment, decision, action, acknowledgment, and affective outcome. To assess the real-world applicability of the STIF framework, 25 traffic scenarios were collected through interviews and analyzed according to the framework. Our findings provide a theoretical foundation for understanding and designing social interaction in (semi-)automated traffic that promotes safer, more empathetic, and emotionally positive experiences.