Public opinion on automated driving: Results of an international questionnaire among 5000 respondents

Kyriakidis, M.; Happee, R.; de Winter, J.C.F. · 2015 · OpenAlex-citations

DOI: 10.1016/j.trf.2015.04.014

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Summary

This study investigates public acceptance, concerns, and willingness to purchase partially, highly, and fully automated vehicles. Motivated by the potential of automated driving to reduce traffic fatalities, congestion, and emissions, the authors sought to address gaps in previous research, which often focused on limited automation levels or specific Western countries. The study aimed to provide a comprehensive international perspective and examine how personality traits and national development indicators influence public opinion. The researchers conducted an online survey using the CrowdFlower crowdsourcing platform, collecting 5,000 responses from 109 countries. After filtering for data quality and age compliance, 4,886 respondents were analyzed. The 63-question survey defined four levels of automation (manual, partial, high, and full) and assessed enjoyment, comfort, willingness to pay, and specific concerns. Personality traits were measured using a short version of the Big Five Inventory. Analyses included individual-level correlations with demographic and personality variables, as well as cross-national correlations with objective data on road safety, education, and GDP. Results indicated that while manual driving was rated as the most enjoyable, 33% of respondents found fully automated driving highly enjoyable, and 69% predicted it would reach 50% market share by 2050. Willingness to pay varied significantly; 22% would pay nothing for full automation, while 5% would pay over $30,000. The primary concerns were software hacking/misuse, legal liability, and safety, with privacy being the least significant worry. Personality traits showed weak predictive power, though higher neuroticism correlated with slight discomfort regarding data transmission, and higher agreeableness with slight comfort. Cross-national analysis revealed that respondents from more developed countries (characterized by lower accident rates, higher education, and higher income) were less comfortable with vehicle data transmission. Men were generally more willing to pay for automation and less worried than women. The findings highlight that while the international public is largely fascinated by automated driving, significant barriers remain regarding trust in system security and legal frameworks. The strong correlation between national development metrics and data privacy concerns suggests that cultural and infrastructural contexts shape acceptance. These results provide vehicle developers and policymakers with critical insights into the major areas of promise and concern, emphasizing the need to address security and liability issues to facilitate broader adoption.

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• acceptance adoption

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• Empirical Findings: self report data, observational prevalence