Driver and Pedestrian Acceptance of Highly Automated Vehicles: A TPB and UTAUT-Based Questionnaire Survey

Highly automated vehicles (HAVs) can provide a safer and more efficient mobility, and the acceptance of automated driving in the general public is critical to the large-scale implementation of HAVs. Many studies have investigated car users' acceptance of HAVs, but only a few studies have considered the pedestrian's perspective. To fill the gap, four scales from Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and one scale from the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) were combined to construct the questionnaire survey from the perspectives of car users and pedestrians respectively. A totally of 629 participants joined the investigation. Mann-Whitney U test, correlation analysis and structural equation model was used to examine the relationship between the factors from TPB and UTAUT. The results indicate that that the acceptance of HAVs between pedestrians and car users was similar. Both car users' and pedestrians' intentions for HAVs were positively correlated to attitudes (including performance expectations), subjective norms, and perceived behavior control (PBC). We found that subjective norms and PBC were significant in influencing drivers to use HAV s. For pedestrians, attitudes, subjective norms and PBC were influenced on intentions. The results of the research can serve as a good reference for government agencies and companies to improve public acceptance and willingness to use HAVs.