IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/transa/v158y2022icp224-238.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

An acceptance divergence? Media, citizens and policy perspectives on autonomous cars in the European Union

Author

Listed:
  • dos Santos, Fabio Luis Marques
  • Duboz, Amandine
  • Grosso, Monica
  • Raposo, María Alonso
  • Krause, Jette
  • Mourtzouchou, Andromachi
  • Balahur, Alexandra
  • Ciuffo, Biagio

Abstract

Do citizens, media and policymakers share the same view on autonomous cars? In the present paper, we analyse data from media articles, a Eurobarometer survey, and policy documents, to understand the perspective of different stakeholders when it comes to autonomous cars. We find significant differences between the groups, with a predominance of negative sentiments in news articles and a majority of citizens being wary of autonomous cars, while the political narrative mostly carries a positive tone. The findings highlight a dichotomous perspective about this potentially disruptive technology. This may represent a problem as the benefits of adopting autonomous cars will only come to surface if all actors are engaged and see the advantages they can bring to people’s daily lives. We conclude by encouraging policymakers to promote initiatives to engage citizens in the transformation of road transport and other stakeholders to be advertised the positive implications of autonomous vehicles.

Suggested Citation

  • dos Santos, Fabio Luis Marques & Duboz, Amandine & Grosso, Monica & Raposo, María Alonso & Krause, Jette & Mourtzouchou, Andromachi & Balahur, Alexandra & Ciuffo, Biagio, 2022. "An acceptance divergence? Media, citizens and policy perspectives on autonomous cars in the European Union," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 224-238.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:transa:v:158:y:2022:i:c:p:224-238
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tra.2022.02.013
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0965856422000477
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.tra.2022.02.013?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Molin, Eric & Mokhtarian, Patricia & Kroesen, Maarten, 2016. "Multimodal travel groups and attitudes: A latent class cluster analysis of Dutch travelers," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 14-29.
    2. Jonatan J. Gómez Vilchez & Austin Smyth & Luke Kelleher & Hui Lu & Charlene Rohr & Gillian Harrison & Christian Thiel, 2019. "Electric Car Purchase Price as a Factor Determining Consumers’ Choice and their Views on Incentives in Europe," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-14, November.
    3. Xiaoxia Dong & Matthew DiScenna & Erick Guerra, 2019. "Transit user perceptions of driverless buses," Transportation, Springer, vol. 46(1), pages 35-50, February.
    4. Bansal, Prateek & Kockelman, Kara M., 2017. "Forecasting Americans’ long-term adoption of connected and autonomous vehicle technologies," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 49-63.
    5. Hohenberger, Christoph & Spörrle, Matthias & Welpe, Isabell M., 2016. "How and why do men and women differ in their willingness to use automated cars? The influence of emotions across different age groups," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 374-385.
    6. Anania, Emily C. & Rice, Stephen & Walters, Nathan W. & Pierce, Matthew & Winter, Scott R. & Milner, Mattie N., 2018. "The effects of positive and negative information on consumers’ willingness to ride in a driverless vehicle," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 218-224.
    7. Delbosc, Alexa & Nakanishi, Hitomi, 2017. "A life course perspective on the travel of Australian millennials," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 319-336.
    8. Hamparsum Bozdogan, 1987. "Model selection and Akaike's Information Criterion (AIC): The general theory and its analytical extensions," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 52(3), pages 345-370, September.
    9. Araghi, Yashar & Kroesen, Maarten & van Wee, Bert, 2017. "Identifying reasons for historic car ownership and use and policy implications: An explorative latent class analysis," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 12-18.
    10. Peng Liu & Run Yang & Zhigang Xu, 2019. "Public Acceptance of Fully Automated Driving: Effects of Social Trust and Risk/Benefit Perceptions," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 39(2), pages 326-341, February.
    11. Stanley Sclove, 1987. "Application of model-selection criteria to some problems in multivariate analysis," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 52(3), pages 333-343, September.
    12. Hudson, John & Orviska, Marta & Hunady, Jan, 2019. "People’s attitudes to autonomous vehicles," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 164-176.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Charli Sitinjak & Zurinah Tahir & Mohd Ekhwan Toriman & Novel Lyndon & Vladimir Simic & Charles Musselwhite & Wiyanti Fransisca Simanullang & Firdaus Mohamad Hamzah, 2023. "Assessing Public Acceptance of Autonomous Vehicles for Smart and Sustainable Public Transportation in Urban Areas: A Case Study of Jakarta, Indonesia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-20, April.
    2. Kalakou, Sofia & Marques, Catarina & Prazeres, Duarte & Agouridas, Vassilis, 2023. "Citizens' attitudes towards technological innovations: The case of urban air mobility," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Peng Jing & Gang Xu & Yuexia Chen & Yuji Shi & Fengping Zhan, 2020. "The Determinants behind the Acceptance of Autonomous Vehicles: A Systematic Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-26, February.
    2. Xiaobei Jiang & Wenlin Yu & Wenjie Li & Jiawen Guo & Xizheng Chen & Hongwei Guo & Wuhong Wang & Tao Chen, 2021. "Factors Affecting the Acceptance and Willingness-to-Pay of End-Users: A Survey Analysis on Automated Vehicles," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-12, November.
    3. Xing, Yingying & Zhou, Huiyu & Han, Xiao & Zhang, Meng & Lu, Jian, 2022. "What influences vulnerable road users’ perceptions of autonomous vehicles? A comparative analysis of the 2017 and 2019 Pittsburgh surveys," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    4. Weina Qu & Hongli Sun & Yan Ge, 2021. "The effects of trait anxiety and the big five personality traits on self-driving car acceptance," Transportation, Springer, vol. 48(5), pages 2663-2679, October.
    5. Liu, Peng & Xu, Zhigang & Zhao, Xiangmo, 2019. "Road tests of self-driving vehicles: Affective and cognitive pathways in acceptance formation," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 354-369.
    6. Foroughi, Behzad & Nhan, Pham Viet & Iranmanesh, Mohammad & Ghobakhloo, Morteza & Nilashi, Mehrbakhsh & Yadegaridehkordi, Elaheh, 2023. "Determinants of intention to use autonomous vehicles: Findings from PLS-SEM and ANFIS," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    7. Kassens-Noor, Eva & Kotval-Karamchandani, Zeenat & Cai, Meng, 2020. "Willingness to ride and perceptions of autonomous public transit," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 92-104.
    8. Rosell, Jordi & Allen, Jaime, 2020. "Test-riding the driverless bus: Determinants of satisfaction and reuse intention in eight test-track locations," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 166-189.
    9. Chee, Pei Nen Esther & Susilo, Yusak O. & Wong, Yiik Diew, 2020. "Determinants of intention-to-use first-/last-mile automated bus service," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 350-375.
    10. Hemesath, Sebastian & Tepe, Markus, 2023. "Framing the approval to test self-driving cars on public roads. The effect of safety and competitiveness on citizens' agreement," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    11. Rejali, Sina & Aghabayk, Kayvan & Esmaeli, Saeed & Shiwakoti, Nirajan, 2023. "Comparison of technology acceptance model, theory of planned behavior, and unified theory of acceptance and use of technology to assess a priori acceptance of fully automated vehicles," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    12. Behnood, Ali & Haghani, Milad & Golafshani, Emadaldin Mohammadi, 2022. "Determinants of purchase likelihood for partially and fully automated vehicles: Insights from mixed logit model with heterogeneity in means and variances," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 119-139.
    13. Penmetsa, Praveena & Okafor, Sunday & Adanu, Emmanuel & Hudnall, Matthew & Ramezani, Somayeh Bakhtiari & Holiday, Steven & Jones, Steven, 2023. "How is automated and self-driving vehicle technology presented in the news media?," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    14. Nastjuk, Ilja & Herrenkind, Bernd & Marrone, Mauricio & Brendel, Alfred Benedikt & Kolbe, Lutz M., 2020. "What drives the acceptance of autonomous driving? An investigation of acceptance factors from an end-user's perspective," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    15. Limin Tan & Changxi Ma & Xuecai Xu & Jin Xu, 2019. "Choice Behavior of Autonomous Vehicles Based on Logistic Models," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-16, December.
    16. Liu, Peng & Ma, Yanjiao & Zuo, Yaqing, 2019. "Self-driving vehicles: Are people willing to trade risks for environmental benefits?," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 139-149.
    17. Aline Riboli Marasca & Maurício Scopel Hoffmann & Anelise Reis Gaya & Denise Ruschel Bandeira, 2021. "Subjective Well-Being and Psychopathology Symptoms: Mental Health Profiles and their Relations with Academic Achievement in Brazilian Children," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 14(3), pages 1121-1137, June.
    18. Dubey, Subodh & Sharma, Ishant & Mishra, Sabyasachee & Cats, Oded & Bansal, Prateek, 2022. "A General Framework to Forecast the Adoption of Novel Products: A Case of Autonomous Vehicles," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 63-95.
    19. Jia Guo & Yusak Susilo & Constantinos Antoniou & Anna Pernestål Brenden, 2020. "Influence of Individual Perceptions on the Decision to Adopt Automated Bus Services," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-13, August.
    20. Francesco BARTOLUCCI & Silvia BACCI & Claudia PIGINI, 2015. "A Misspecification Test for Finite-Mixture Logistic Models for Clustered Binary and Ordered Responses," Working Papers 410, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:transa:v:158:y:2022:i:c:p:224-238. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/547/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.