Autonomous vehicles down under: an empirical investigation of consumer sentiment

Of the many issues surrounding the potential introduction of Autonomous Vehicles (AVs), consumer response remains unclear. The current paper presents an empirical investigation of consumer sentiment towards AVs based on an online survey of 455 Australian adults. Market segmentation procedures are used to cluster participants according to their attitudes and concerns towards AVs with clusters then profiled according to demographics, personality traits and contextual/situational factors. Results suggest unsurprisingly that attitudes and concerns are a useful predictor of the likelihood of purchasing an AV. More favourable attitudes towards AVs are associated with younger, male respondents, those who drive less currently and those more open to sharing their car. More negative attitudes prevail with older, female respondents, those who drive more, and those less open to sharing their car. Results have important implications for policy-makers and researchers alike.

• Record URL:
  http://sydney.edu.au/business/itls/research/publications/working_papers
• Corporate Authors:

  University of Sydney. Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies

  University of Sydney, 144 Burren Street, Newtown, New South Wales, 2042, Australia
  Sydney, New South Wales   
• Authors:
  • Greaves, S
  • Smith, B
  • Arnold, T
  • Olaru, D
  • Collins, A T
• Publication Date: 2018-10

Media Info

• Pagination: 9p
• Serial:
  • Issue Number: ITLS-WP-18-18

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Attitudes; Automated vehicle control; Automobile ownership; Computers; Consumer behavior; Policy; Research; Surveys
• Uncontrolled Terms: Interviews
• Geographic Terms: Australia
• ATRI Terms: Attitude; Autonomous vehicle; Consumer behaviour; Online Survey; Policy; Research needs; Vehicle ownership
• ITRD Terms: 2267: Attitude (psychol); 1857: Autonomous driving; 315: Vehicle ownership
• Subject Areas: Policy; Research; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01684183
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: ARRB
• Files: ITRD, ATRI
• Created Date: Oct 25 2018 11:33AM