From the Mile High Club and prom-night limousine rituals to Risky Business and Pornhub amateur content, mobility has never been just about getting from A to B. Across air travel, public transport, and private vehicles, transport spaces have repeatedly been represented and appropriated as spaces of intimacy, experimentation, and sexual expression.
This is particularly concerning in relation to public and shared automated vehicles (AVs), where enclosure, shared use, and the absence of an authority figure can warp perceptions of accountability and intervention potential, with important consequences for passenger comfort, perceived safety, and public acceptance of the technology.
Our workshop, Love In Traffic: Physical and Digital Design Against Consensual Sexual Activity Inside Public and Shared Automated Vehicles, approaches consensual sexual activity inside public and shared AVs as a design stress test for how they are perceived and used as collective spaces, and explores how physical and digital design can discourage sexual activity in these environments. We aim to synthesize design principles, identify open research questions, and establish a research agenda for designing public and shared AVs as comfortable and respectful collective spaces. The full paper is available here.
Content notice: Please note that this workshop includes discussion of consensual sexual activity, sexually explicit media, and related scenarios in public and shared transport. Some participants may find this content sensitive, uncomfortable, or distressing. Participation is voluntary, and attendees should use their own discretion in deciding whether the workshop is appropriate for them before enrolling.
Subject to ethical approval (ERB-1646, Ethical Review Board of Eindhoven University of Technology), we intend to process output generated during the workshop in future academic publications, with participants’ informed consent.
Schedule and Activities
The workshop (W1) will take place on 20 September 2026, 08:30–12:30 in room 2124 (Jämvikten), at Natrium, Gothenburg University. See full AutoUI programme here.
| Activity | Time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Welcome, Scope,and Framing |
08:30–08:45 |
Welcome participants, clarify workshop scope, distinguish consensual sexual behavior from criminal conduct, and frame HF/UX concerns around comfort and agency. |
| Scene-Setting Lightning Talks | 08:45–09:30 | Present 2–3 lightning talks and Q&A to establish shared grounding on sexual behavior, safety, affordances, media, responsibility, and bystander dynamics. |
| Group Activity 1: Mapping the Design Problem | 09:30–10:15 | Map the HF/UX design problem by identifying key user roles, bystander experience, and breakdowns in comfort, safety, civility, and agency. |
| Coffee Break | 10:15–10:45 | |
| Group Activity 2: Designing Against Sexual Behavior | 10:45–11:30 | Develop physical and digital design concepts that discourage sexual activity, protect bystanders, shape affordances, de-escalate situations, and preserve passenger agency. |
| Coffee Break | 11:30–11:45 | |
| Group Activity 3: AI-Assisted Physical and Digital Visualization | 11:45–12:15 | Visualize selected physical and digital concepts using AI image generation to support reflection on affordances, dignity, unintended effects, and design choices. |
| Synthesis and Wrap-Up | 12:15–12:30 | Synthesize physical and digital design principles, trade-offs, cross-scenario insights, and open HF/UX questions while defining post-workshop outcomes. |
Organizers
Alexandros Rouchitsas
KTG Research & Innovation Ltd., Famagusta, Cyprus (a.rouchitsas@ktg-innovation.eu)
Alexandros Rouchitsas is a HF/UX professional and certified ergonomist (Eur.Erg.). His research interests include human–AI symbiosis, human–robot collaboration, automated driving, and eye tracking. He received his PhD from Luleå University of Technology in human factors of automated driving.
Ignacio Alvarez
Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt, Ingostadt, Germany
Ignacio Alvarez holds the Bavarian Top Professorship for Human-Centered Intelligent Systems at Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt. His research interests are at the intersection of agentic AI, systems engineering and human computer interaction. He received his PhD at Basque Country University and Clemson University in developing in-cabin assistant systems.
Soyeon Kim
University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom
Soyeon Kim is an assistant professor at University of Warwick. Her research focuses on understanding human behaviour and designing human-machine interaction in automated vehicles. She holds a PhD at TU Delft in designing in-vehicle HMI for trustworthy automated vehicles.
Chen Peng
Loughborough University, Loughborough, United Kingdom
Chen Peng is a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) at Loughborough University, UK. Her research focuses on human factors in future mobility. She received her PhD from University of Leeds, UK, as a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellow.
Pavlo Bazilinskyy
Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Pavlo Bazilinskyy is an assistant professor at TU Eindhoven focusing on AI-driven interaction between automated vehicles and other road users. He finished his PhD at TU Delft in auditory feedback for automated driving as a Marie Curie Fellow, where he also worked as a postdoc.