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Determinants and the Moderating Effects of Individual Characteristics on Autonomous Vehicle Adoption in China

Author

Listed:
  • Tianpei Tang

    (School of Transportation and Civil Engineering, Nantong University, Nantong 226019, China)

  • Xiwei Wang

    (School of Transportation and Civil Engineering, Nantong University, Nantong 226019, China)

  • Jianbing Wu

    (Nantong Municipal Engineering Design Institute Co., Ltd., Nantong 226000, China)

  • Meining Yuan

    (School of Transportation and Civil Engineering, Nantong University, Nantong 226019, China)

  • Yuntao Guo

    (Department of Traffic Engineering, Key Laboratory of Road and Traffic Engineering, Ministry of Education, Tongji University, Shanghai 201804, China)

  • Xunqian Xu

    (School of Transportation and Civil Engineering, Nantong University, Nantong 226019, China)

Abstract

Along with the increasing popularity of autonomous vehicles (AVs), urban livability and public health will be enhanced due to ecofriendly issues: alleviated traffic congestion, lower car ownership, and reduced transport emissions. However, some emerging issues, including public safety, trust, privacy, reliability, underdeveloped legislation, and liability, may deter user intentions to adopt an AV. This study introduces an extensive factor, playfulness, into the technology acceptance model (TAM) to quantify the impacts of psychological factors (perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and perceived playfulness) on AV adoption intention. This study proposes four AV-related policy measures (financial incentivization, information dissemination, convenience, and legal normalization) and examines how policy measures motivate users to adopt an AV to facilitate public safety. Furthermore, this study investigated the moderating effects of demographic factors on the relationships between independent variables and AV adoption intention. Two models were proposed and estimated using a total of 1831 survey responses in China. The psychology-related and policy-related models explained 62.2% and 33.6% of the variance in AV adoption intention, respectively. The results suggest that perceived playfulness (β = 0.524, p < 0.001) and information dissemination (β = 0.348, p < 0.001) are the most important influencing factors of AV adoption intention. In addition, demographic factors (gender, education, income, the number of private cars owned by a family, and types of cities) can moderate the effects of psychological factors and policy measures on user intentions to adopt an AV. These insights can be employed to design more cost-effective policies and strategies for subgroups of the population to maximize the AV adoption intention.

Suggested Citation

  • Tianpei Tang & Xiwei Wang & Jianbing Wu & Meining Yuan & Yuntao Guo & Xunqian Xu, 2022. "Determinants and the Moderating Effects of Individual Characteristics on Autonomous Vehicle Adoption in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-17, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2022:i:1:p:43-:d:1009435
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