Investigating Public Acceptance of Shared Autonomous Vehicles: A Crowdsourcing Approach

As autonomous vehicles (AVs) are expected to be a major component of future mobility, it is essential to look into the conditions and user characteristics that correlate to their acceptance. To this end, researchers often conduct in-person studies and/or specifically recruit participants who have direct contact with AVs. However, such methods present significant challenges, given that AVs represent an emerging technology that is not yet in widespread use. We propose an alternative methodology for studying the public’s perspective, using crowdsourcing. Rather than querying participants on their experience with AVs, we present them with a video-based scenario of an AV taxi, asking them under which conditions they would (or would not) use it. Our online study produced results that are in line with the current literature on acceptance and user demographics (ie, who is most likely to use an AV and how). Interestingly, the results also show that female participants are more reluctant in ride-sharing and car swapping as compared to men, while the latter value more their money instead of time in terms of car swapping.