A study of users’ preferences after a brief exposure in a Shared Autonomous Vehicle (SAV)

Shared Autonomous Vehicles are expected to significantly change transport and mobility, improving road safety, environmental impact and traffic efficiency. However, the successful implementation of a SAV mobility service strongly depends on public acceptance and adoption, which might be influenced by a number of factors, such as socio-demographic characteristics of potential users, and their expectations and perceptions towards the autonomous system. This study presents the results of a novel experiment carried out in a non-simulated environment, to explore car users’ preferences towards autonomous mobility options. Participants took part in a stated preference task before and after a brief exposure in a Shared Autonomous Vehicle. Interestingly, results show that the experience influenced people’s mode choice preferences, moving from car (the most preferred mode before the experiment) to autonomous taxi and shared autonomous taxi (after the experiment). The study and the results of the structural equation and the choice model also highlighted the importance of comfort in people’s preferences towards shared autonomous options.