Public perception assessment is important for gaining a better understanding of the acceptance of autonomous vehicles (AVs) and identifying potential ways to resolve public concerns. This study investigated how pedestrians and bicyclists perceived AVs based on their knowledge and road sharing experiences, applying a combined inductive and deductive data analysis approach. Survey responses of pedestrians and bicyclists in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA collected by Bike Pittsburgh (BikePGH) in 2019, were analyzed in this research. AVs following traffic rules appropriately and AVs driving safer than the human drivers were the most notable positive perceptions towards AVs. Pedestrians and bicyclists showed comparatively fewer negative perceptions towards AVs than positive perceptions. Negative perceptions mostly included a lack of perceived safety and comfort around AVs and trust in the AV technology. Respondents also concerned about AV technology issues (e.g., slow and defensive driving, disruptive maneuver), while sharing the road with AVs. Perceptions of the respondents were significantly influenced by their views on AV safety, familiarity with the technology, the extent respondents followed AV on the news, and household automobile ownership. Regulating AV movement on roadways, developing safety assessment guidelines, and controlling oversights of improper practices by AV companies were the major suggestions from the survey participants. Findings of this study might help AV companies to identify potential improvement needed in AV technology to increase pedestrians and bicyclists acceptance, and policymakers to develop policy guidelines to ensure safe road sharing among pedestrians, bicyclists, and AVs.

公众认知评估对于更好地了解自动驾驶汽车的接受程度以及确定解决公众关注的潜在方法非常重要。这项研究调查行人和骑自行车的人如何基于他们的知识和道路共享经验来感知AV，并应用归纳和演绎数据分析方法相结合。本研究分析了美国匹兹堡（BikePGH）在2019年收集的美国宾夕法尼亚州匹兹堡行人和骑自行车者的调查回复。正确遵守交通规则的自动驾驶汽车和比人类驾驶员更安全驾驶的自动驾驶汽车是对自动驾驶汽车最明显的积极看法。行人和骑自行车的人对AV的负面看法要比正面看法要少。负面看法主要包括缺乏对AV的感知安全性和舒适性以及对AV技术的信任。受访者在与自动驾驶汽车共享道路的同时，还担心自动驾驶技术问题（例如，慢速和防御性驾驶，破坏性机动）。受访者的看法受其对视听安全性，对技术的熟悉程度，受访者在新闻中关注视听的程度以及家用汽车拥有量的看法的影响很大。调查参与者的主要建议是：规范道路上的视听活动，制定安全评估指南以及控制视听公司对不当行为的监督。这项研究的结果可能有助于视听公司识别视听技术所需的潜在改进，以提高行人和骑车人的接受度，