"Nuisance is Better Than Nothing?": Exploring How Pedestrians and Cyclists Perceive Automated E-Scooter Alerts in Shared Spaces

DOI

Electric scooters (e-scooters) offer flexible urban mobility but raise safety concerns in shared spaces. This study investigates how e-scooters can better communicate their presence to pedestrians and cyclists in shared active mobility environments. A focus group with e-scooter riders identified notifying others of arrival as a key challenge. To address this, we co-designed audio and visual alerts in a participatory workshop and evaluated them in a real-world Wizard of Oz (WoZ) study involving live encounters. WoZ self-report data showed that voice and bell alerts were rated significantly higher in visibility, safety, communication, and acceptance than continuous sounds and flashing lights. These findings were supported by video analysis, which captured clear spatial responses such as turning or moving aside. Cyclists rated alerts as more distracting than pedestrians. Eye-tracking data revealed increased pedestrian attention during overtaking. By combining self-reports, video, and gaze data, we provide in-situ evidence and design recommendations to improve e-scooter signalling and reduce conflict. The dataset, including anonymized ratings, fixation data, alert designs, and analysis scripts, is available at https://github.com/HiruniNuwanthika/User-Perception-Evaluation-Escooter-Alerts.git.