Investigation into the Antecedents of Autonomous Car Acceptance using an Enhanced UTAUT Model

This paper investigates the intention of South African drivers to use Autonomous Vehicles (AVs), vehicles where the full-time performance can be handled by an automated driving system without or with minimal human input. The behaviour intention of people to use such vehicles is of interest due to questions of trust, safety, performance, and enjoyment. Little to no research of this kind had been done in South Africa before, and the field of study is still relatively new globally. An appropriately extended version of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) was used as the basis for this research. A survey was completed by 121 respondents. Hedonic Motivation (β = -.19, p <; .05) and Performance Expectancy (β = -.053, p <; .05) were the only statistically significant predictors of Behavioural Intentions to use Autonomous Vehicles. However, Trust in Safety and Social Influence also exhibit strong correlations. The results validate the findings of similar studies.