Jennifer Walkden

Project Overview

Summary
Autonomous vehicles are revolutionising the transport industry, leading the markets shift towards smart mobility. Although previous research studies have focused heavily on the potential benefits of autonomous vehicles, very few focus on the demands and acceptance of the end user. Consumer group research is vitally important in ensuring the uptake of new technology, especially when there are various concerns surrounding its existence. Through investigating the general public’s attitudes towards autonomous vehicles, consumer group behaviours are able to be identified; informing car manufacturers of concerns and potential barriers to the uptake of autonomous vehicles. As such, the main aim of this study was to identify the relationship between gender, age, and attitudes towards autonomous vehicles.

Methods
Eighty-five participants (32 male (37.6%), 53 were female (62.4%), and 0 other (0%)) voluntarily took part in this study. A 25-item multiple-choice Likert scale, online questionnaire was created and distributed on social networking sites (Facebook and Instagram). Statistical analysis was conducted using the chi- square test of association, and the Mann Whitney U. The following hypotheses were tested:
H0: There is no association between the independent variable (age or gender) and the dependent variable (perception rating of question).
H1: There is an association between the independent variable (age or gender) and the dependent variable (perception rating of question).

Conclusion
A prominent finding of this study shows that although the younger generation are significantly more interested in adopting autonomous vehicles, they are also more concerned with the cost of buying and insuring an autonomous vehicle (especially young females). This highlights the need for a more affordable autonomous vehicle that can be bought by those with lower incomes. Through creating a basic ‘stock’ autonomous vehicle, manufacturers can increase the adoption of autonomous vehicles, ensuring the future of the industry. Further to this, the results of this study also highlight that young females are significantly more concerned with the performance of autonomous vehicles in both poor weather and unexpected situations, compared to older females. Thus, highlighting potential trust issues surrounding the safety and performance of an autonomous vehicle in young females. It can be suggested from this finding, future marketing campaigns from car manufacturers should focus on emphasising the safety of autonomous vehicles. This could be through demonstrating with videos, how they perform in both poor weather conditions and unexpected situations, breaking any barriers that could affect the adoption of autonomous vehicles. Another significant finding of this study was that the older generation are significantly more concerned with learning how to use an autonomous vehicle and its features, compared to the younger generation. It could be suggested that in order to address this concern and reduce the effect of this negatively influencing the adoption of autonomous vehicles, it should be made mandatory for all consumers to have training on how to use an autonomous and its features, before they are able to purchase the vehicle. This would not only reduce the concerns the older generation may have with learning the new technology, but also improve the trust and safety of both the driver, their passengers and other road users. Ultimately improving the adoption of autonomous vehicles and ensuring the future of the industry. However, it must be noted that the significant findings of this study could have been influenced by the spread of participants age and genders. As such, further research should aim to create an equal spread of participants across consumer groups, in order to obtain more valid results. Future research may also investigate the attitudes of those who may be physically or visually impaired, and identify concerns that they might have with the adoption of autonomous vehicles.