A study of safety acceptance and behavioral interventions for autonomous driving technologies

Explaining the phenomenon of declining acceptance of automated driving technology (ADT) and predicting trends in acceptance has become an important area of research. To explore the reasons for the decline in acceptance of automated vehicles and how to improve user acceptance, we studied mechanisms of the influence process from the relationship between safety riskiness of ADT and user acceptance, and examined the mediating and moderating effects of the proposed intervention behaviors on the influence relationship between these two. First, an improved acceptance model incorporating safety risk factors was developed. Subsequently, the psychological change process of user acceptance was analyzed based on people’s response to accident information. Ultimately, the results show that safety cognition risk regarding ADT has a significant negative impact on user acceptance. Next, the mediating model where user experience was introduced as a moderating variable was designed. From the test results of this model, it is found that the proposed behavioral intervention strategy is effective in attenuating the degree of impact of the safety riskiness of ADT on acceptance. The risk-based acceptance explanation model and intervention method designed in this study provide a scientific basis and practical approach to develop the market for automated vehicles.