Moderating effects of policy measures on intention to adopt autonomous vehicles: Evidence from China

Autonomous vehicles (AVs) can potentially revolutionize the transportation system, but the extent of their impact may depend on users’ attitude and AV-related policies. This paper seeks to provide a holistic view of the impacts of policy, attitudinal, and sociodemographic factors on AV adoption intention. An extension to the original Technology Acceptance Model is proposed by incorporating perceived enjoyment (i.e., how enjoyable respondents think using an AV will be) and policy factors. Four policy factors include the availability of financial incentives, awareness campaigns, traffic policies, and legislative measures. Using 1,831 survey responses in China, multiple linear regression models were estimated to quantify the direct impacts of the proposed policy and attitudinal factors on AV adoption intention. They also illustrate the moderating effects of these policies on the relationships between attitudinal factors and AV adoption intention. The study findings may be used to design future policy measures to facilitate a smooth transition to an era of AVs.