Abstract
This study looked at how entertainment fillers and interface information display strategies affected drivers’ emotional experience and perceptions of time while waiting for passengers on online ride-hailing services. Three independent variables were used to complete the between-subjects experimental design: a countdown indicator (with or without), animated icons (pointer icon / humanoid icon) for passenger location, and entertainment fillers (with or without). The simulation experiment, which involved recruiting 50 skilled online ride-hailing drivers, assessed online ride-hailing drivers’ emotional experience and perceptions of time in great detail. The three-dimensional emotion model of pleasure-arousal-dominance and the theory of time perception were used to design the experiment. The results show that the countdown indicator and entertainment fillers significantly impact online ride-hailing drivers’ emotional experience and perceptions of time. According to the interaction impact between the countdown and the passenger animation symbols, the “humanoid icon” in the “with countdown” scenario results in a faster perception speed, but the “no countdown” situation has the reverse effect. The study’s results provide empirical evidence to enhance the waiting interface design for online ride-hailing rentals, especially when balancing functional indicators with cognitive loads.
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All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article (and its Supplementary Information files).
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Yunguo Liu: Conceptualisation, Methodology, Investigation, Resources.Rang Meng: Formal analysis, Writing-original draft, Writing-review & editing, Methodology, Visualization.Xuelin Tang: Writing-review & editing, Project administration, Supervision, Resources.Zizhen Liu: Methodology, Data collation.
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Liu, Y., Meng, R., Tang, X. et al. Optimizing waiting experience: how passenger progress information and entertainment fillers jointly influence online ride-hailing drivers’ time perception and emotion. Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-34811-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-34811-9
