Building trust is the key to autonomous vehicle acceptance

However, a recent study by Washington State University (WSU) researchers revealed that merely increasing public knowledge about AVs does not alleviate concerns about their risks. Instead, fostering trust in these vehicles' reliability and performance is crucial for their acceptance.

The study, published in the Journal of Risk Research, adds to a body of evidence suggesting that knowledge alone is insufficient to change public attitudes towards complex technologies and scientific advancements, such as gene editing or climate change.

Kathryn Robinson-Tay, the lead author, emphasised the importance of trust in shaping perceptions: “Autonomous vehicles are such consumer-oriented products. Whether they are used or not is really dependent on whether people will buy them. We found there was no significant relationship between people’s knowledge and their risk perceptions of autonomous vehicles – without the mediation of trust.”

Despite some cars with autonomous features, like Tesla’s adaptive cruise control, being on the roads, fully driverless vehicles remain unavailable. Predictions suggest that AVs could enhance traffic safety by 90%, but this improvement hinges on widespread adoption. Currently, public perception of their safety is low, with a 2022 Pew Research poll indicating that 44% of Americans view AVs negatively.

Robinson-Tay and her advising professor, Wei Peng, conducted a survey of 323 US adults, ensuring diversity through Census-based quotas. The study found that trust was the most influential factor in improving perceptions of AV risk. Additionally, a desire to experience AVs indirectly improved risk perceptions.

Wei Peng highlighted a psychological barrier to acceptance: “It’s basic psychology that people want to interact with the things they use. They want to control them through physical touch. With fully autonomous vehicles, you do not need to touch them, so people may feel they are very risky or unsafe.”

News reports about accidents involving partially autonomous vehicles have also damaged public perceptions. Peng noted: “Accidents happen all the time on the road every day, but people tend to overestimate the risk of something that’s new, or that they’re less familiar with.”

The study’s findings underscore the necessity of building public trust if fully autonomous vehicles are ever to be widely adopted. Robinson-Tay concluded: “Proponents should do their best to communicate the benefits, and the risks, of autonomous vehicles in an effort to increase both knowledge and trust. It’s really important to communicate as honestly as possible so people can have a balanced understanding of what they’re exactly getting into with purchasing one.”