Predictors of attitudes toward autonomous vehicles: The roles of age, gender, prior knowledge, and personality

Autonomous vehicles (AVs) hold considerable promise for maintaining aging adults' mobility as they develop impairments in driving skill. Nonetheless, attitudes can be a significant barrier to adoption as has been shown for other technologies. We investigated how different introductions to AV, v...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Charness, N. (Author), Souders, D. (Author), Stothart, C. (Author), Yehnert, C. (Author), Yoon, J.S (Author)
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2018
Subjects:
Age
Online Access:View Fulltext in Publisher
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020 |a 16641078 (ISSN) 
245 1 0 |a Predictors of attitudes toward autonomous vehicles: The roles of age, gender, prior knowledge, and personality 
260 0 |b Frontiers Media S.A.  |c 2018 
856 |z View Fulltext in Publisher  |u https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02589 
520 3 |a Autonomous vehicles (AVs) hold considerable promise for maintaining aging adults' mobility as they develop impairments in driving skill. Nonetheless, attitudes can be a significant barrier to adoption as has been shown for other technologies. We investigated how different introductions to AV, video with a driver in the front seat, the rear seat, and a written description, affected attitudes, as well as how individual difference variables such as age, gender, prior knowledge, and personality traits predict attitudes within a middle-aged (Median age = 34, IQR = 20, n = 441) Amazon Mechanical Turk sample. The 16-item attitude survey uncovered three factors: Concern with AV, Eagerness to Adopt AV technology, and Willingness to Relinquish Driving Control. ANOVAs showed that only age (younger less concerned) and gender, (females more concerned) were significant factors in Concern with AV. Only gender affected Willingness to Relinquish Driving Control, with males more willing. Multiple regressions that included previous knowledge level and personality traits showed a different pattern. Female gender and greater conscientiousness were associated with greater Concern about AV. Prior knowledge of AV was associated with less concern. Emotional stability and openness to experience were positive predictors of Eagerness to Adopt AV, whereas conscientiousness was a negative predictor. Prior knowledge and openness to experience, positively, and extraversion, negatively, were associated with being willing to relinquish driving control. These results suggest that different information dissemination campaigns are needed to persuade consumers to adopt AV technology. We discuss potential approaches. © 2018 Charness, Yoon, Souders, Stothart and Yehnert. 
650 0 4 |a Age 
650 0 4 |a Attitudes 
650 0 4 |a Autonomous vehicle 
650 0 4 |a Gender 
650 0 4 |a Knowledge 
650 0 4 |a Personality 
650 0 4 |a Technology 
700 1 |a Charness, N.  |e author 
700 1 |a Souders, D.  |e author 
700 1 |a Stothart, C.  |e author 
700 1 |a Yehnert, C.  |e author 
700 1 |a Yoon, J.S.  |e author 
773 |t Frontiers in Psychology