Urban Mobility in the Age of Automation: Analyzing Public Attitudes Toward Privately-Owned versus Shared Automated Vehicles

Transportation systems will be likely transformed by the emergence of automated vehicles (AVs) promising for safe, convenient, and efficient mobility, especially if used in shared systems (shared AV or SAV). However, the potential tendency is observed towards owning AV as a private asset rather than using SAV. This calls for a research on investigating individuals' attitude towards AV in comparison with SAV to recognize the barriers to the public's tendency towards SAV. To do so, the present study proposes a modeling framework based on the theories in behavioral psychology to explain individuals' preference for owning AV over using SAV, built as a latent (subjective) psychometric construct, by three groups of explanatory latent constructs including: (i) desire for searching for benefits, i.e., extrinsic motive manifested in utilitarian beliefs; (ii) tendency towards seeking pleasure and joy, i.e., intrinsic motive reflected in hedonic beliefs; and (iii) attitude towards three configurations of shared mobility, i.e., experience with car and ridesharing, bikesharing, and public transit. Estimated on a sample dataset from the State of California, the findings can shed initial lights on the psychological determinants of the public's attitude towards owning AV versus using SAV, which can furthermore provide policy implications intriguing for policy makers and stakeholders. Of note, the findings reveal the strongest influential factor on preference for AV over SAV as hedonic beliefs reflected in perceived enjoyment. This preference is next affected by utilitarian beliefs, particularly perceived benefit and trust of stranger, followed by attitude towards car and ride sharing.