Would You Trust Driverless Service? Formation of Pedestrian’s Trust and Attitude Using Non-Verbal Social Cues

Despite the widespread application of Autonomous Vehicles (AV) to various services, there has been relatively little research carried out on pedestrian–AV interaction and trust within the context of service provided by AV. This study explores the communication design strategy promoting a pedestrian’s trust and positive attitude to driverless services within the context of pedestrian–AV interaction using non-verbal social cues. An empirical study was conducted with an experimental VR environment to measure participants’ intimacy, trust, and brand attitude toward AV. Further understanding of their social interaction experiences was explored through semi-structured interviews. As a result of the study, the interaction effect of social cues was found, and it was revealed that brand attitude was formed by the direct effects of intimacy and trust as well as the indirect effects of intimacy through trust’s mediation. Furthermore, ‘Conceptual Definition of Space’ was identified to generate differences in the interplay among intimacy, trust, and brand attitude according to social cues. Quantitative and qualitative results were synthesized to discuss implications considering the service context. Practical implications were also addressed suggesting specific design strategies for utilizing the sociality of AV.