Exploring the general acceptance factor for shared automated vehicles: the impact of personality traits and experimentally altered information
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1531386
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Summary
This study investigates the public acceptance of Shared Automated Vehicles (SAVs), addressing a gap in literature regarding how informational factors and individual personality traits influence adoption. While SAVs offer potential solutions for urban mobility challenges, their success depends on psychological acceptance, which remains under-studied compared to technical feasibility. The research specifically examines whether subtle changes in information about SAV services—such as vehicle autonomy level, seating orientation, and co-passenger ethnicity—affect perceptions, and how these effects interact with personality traits derived from the Five Factor Model (FFM) and Social Dominance Orientation (SDO). The researchers conducted an experimental survey with 1,902 respondents in Norway. Participants were randomly assigned to one of eight conditions, manipulating three informational variables: vehicle autonomy (fully autonomous vs. steward onboard), seating orientation (facing direction of travel vs. facing other passengers), and the ethnicity of co-passengers (homogenous vs. mixed). Personality traits were assessed using the mini IPIP scales for the FFM and measures for SDO. The primary outcome measure was the General Acceptance Factor (GAF), a 14-item aggregate derived from the Multi-Level Model of Automated Vehicle Acceptance (MAVA), which demonstrated high internal reliability and a strong linear relationship with intention to use. The results indicated no significant main or interaction effects from the experimentally altered information conditions; variations in autonomy, seating, or co-passenger ethnicity did not significantly influence SAV acceptance. However, personality traits significantly predicted acceptance levels. Higher scores in openness and agreeableness positively predicted SAV acceptance, whereas higher neuroticism and Social Dominance Orientation negatively predicted acceptance. Extraversion and conscientiousness did not show significant predictive power in this context. The absence of experimental effects suggests that the manipulated informational factors either play a limited role in acceptance or that the manipulations were insufficiently robust to alter perceptions. The findings highlight the substantial impact of psychological factors, particularly trust, openness, and social attitudes, on the adoption of SAVs. The study concludes that while specific service characteristics like seating or steward presence may not drive acceptance, individual psychological profiles are critical determinants. This emphasizes the need for tailored communication strategies that address specific psychological barriers, such as fostering trust for those high in neuroticism or addressing social hierarchy concerns for those high in SDO. The research supports the utility of the GAF as a concise measure of acceptance and underscores the importance of integrating established psychological theories, such as the FFM and Social Dominance Theory, into transportation technology acceptance research.
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| Stage | Outcome | Tool | Model | Prompt | Attempts | Completed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| discover | success | Crossref | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-25 |
| archive | success | canonical_url | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-26 |
| extract | success | cached | — | — | 5 | 2026-06-26 |
| clean | success | clean | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-25 |
| chunk | success | chunk | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-25 |
| embed | success | embed | Qwen/Qwen3-Embedding-8B | — | 1 | 2026-06-25 |
| promote | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-25 |
| summarize | success | llm | qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant | summ-v5 | 4 | 2026-06-26 |
| tag | success | vector_similarity | — | — | 6 | 2026-06-25 |
| verify | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-26 |
Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-26; verification: verified.
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