Bachelor thesis: The importance
of personality traits for
collaboration with conversational
agents in automated vehicles
January 2024 – June 2024
My bachelor thesis investigated the significance of personality traits in the interaction with conversational agents in the context of automated driving. Primarily, the effect of the negotiation strategy adapted to the driver's personality on the user experience was analysed. It was also investigated how these different strategies affect the efficiency of communication with the automated system.
Conception of the study design
The research design was then developed. The driving study was designed as a Wizard of Oz experiment in various driving scenarios. The independent variables included the personality traits of the participants and the negotiation strategies. Various survey instruments were selected to measure the dependent variables.
Creating the simulation environment in Unity
Using the game engine Unity, the simulation environment was created with five different driving scenarios to test the five different negotiation strategies.
Related work and research questions
First, related scientific research in similar contexts was researched and the research questions were formulated based on the research results.
Execution of the study
After designing the study setup the driving study was conducted, including the collection of quantitative data through questionnaires and qualitative interviews.
Data analysis
The quantitative data was analysed to test the hypotheses, while the qualitative data was evaluated. Finally, the research questions were answered on the basis of these analyses.
Key project learnings
During my Bachelor thesis, I gained extensive experience and skills. For the first time, I carried out a scientific project completely independently, from the formulation of complex research questions to the development and implementation of the research design and the evaluation of the results. This taught me how to conduct complex studies according to scientific standards in order to make informed and data-based decisions. This ability enables the realisation of products and services with an enhanced user experience, which increases user satisfaction and loyalty. This results in a better ROI and thus promotes the economic success of the company in the long term.
