An Empirical Analysis of the Intention to Use Level-5 Driverless Cars and their Possible Evolution in the Market

This study is aimed at giving its contribution and provide new and update knowledge in the literature related to perception and attitudes toward driverless cars. Indeed, the body of knowledge regarding perceptions towards autonomous cars is still insufficient and offer a partial picture of the general acceptance of autonomous cars. More specifically, This work contributes to the stand of literature that focuses on the understanding of how consumer preferences for attributes such as safety, ease of use, and performance shape the intention to use driverless cars (focusing on level 5 of automation only). Two research questions have been investigated: 1) What are the factors influencing the intention to use level-5 automated vehicles?; 2) How will consumer preferences shape the future of driverless cars?. The first question has been addressed by using a Multiple Regression Model based on a set of eleven variables (one dependent, seven independents, and three control variables) and testing several hypotheses. In particular, it was argued that changes in Perceived Benefits, Concern, Usage Preference, Level of Acceptance, Social Influence, Ease of Use, and Attitude toward Using Driverless Cars are catalysts for the Intention to Use Level-5 Driverless Cars. Control variables have been added to further investigate the impact on the dependent of some personal characteristics of the sample. To test the hypotheses a survey composed of 27 questions concerning attitudes and preferences towards this technology has been implemented through various channels. 650 responses have been then analyzed and used as the sample of the research. The result of this study empirically proves that the most important factors influencing the Intention to Use Level-5 Driverless Cars are Perceived Benefits, Level of Acceptance, Social Influence, and Ease of Use. Surprisingly, responses have been collected from 39 different countries, which have been then grouped into four continents: America, Asia, Europe, and Oceania. To further investigate possible similarities or differences across these continents and add meaningful insights to the research, a Cluster Analysis has been performed. The outcome of this analysis suggests that, concerning the variables object of study, Asia and America are very similar to each other and very different from Oceania and Europe, in their turn similar to each other. These findings are consistent with the development of self-driving technologies that sees America and Asia as the leaders in this field. Finally, the answer to the second question has been based on a descriptive analysis of responses to open-ended questions provided by participants that were found to be of great interest. Indeed, this analysis revealed that the preferences of respondents are very uniform and claim the same concept and usage of these vehicles. Understanding consumer opinions, intention to use and preferences are critical to forecasting the possible adoption rate of level-5 autonomous vehicles, especially if one considers that there may be strong barriers to entry and that more and more automakers and technology companies are working on developing self-driving cars and systems.