Making emergent technologies more tangible - Effects of presentation form on user perceptions in the context of automated mobility

One of the main challenges of investigating consumers’ perceptions and acceptance of emergent technologies is that respondents have not had any experience with them. This posits the question of how such technologies can be effectively presented to consumers both in the context of research and in measures to foster acceptance. Using automated driving as a case study, this paper presents results from a comparative study of three presentation forms (vignette, real-world video, computer-generated VR) of a ride in an automated vehicle in an empirical study with 103 participants. Results from quantitative analyses show that both real-world videos and the VR simulation outperform textual descriptions in terms of visualisation capability and user experience. Unexpectedly, the VR simulation does not perform significantly better at creating mental images of automated driving than a vignette. Recommendations are offered regarding the choice of a suitable presentation form in empirical research in relation to study objectives.