Consumers’ attitudes toward information security threats against connected and autonomous vehicles

Abstract

Connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) and intelligent transport systems are transforming individual driving behavior and thus, the vehicle industry and transport sector. However, increasing vehicle connectivity makes CAVs more susceptible to cyber-attacks, which is a barrier to consumers’ CAV adoption. This study analyzes the types of information security threats consumers consider to be the most dangerous and consumer preference for the information security solution that protects their CAVs from such information security threats. We use stated preference data from a discrete choice experiment and a mixed logit model to reflect consumers’ heterogeneity on information security threats and solutions. Furthermore, we investigate the effects of experiencing privacy leakage on attitudes toward CAV information security threats by dividing respondents into two groups. The results show that consumers regard communication failure and the unauthorized collection of personal information as dangerous information security threats, which implies that confidentiality and availability are more essential to CAV security than other factors. Moreover, convenience of use, such as having automatic updates and a security dashboard, is also important when purchasing a CAV information security solution. We also find that respondents who have experienced privacy leakage have a higher preference for protecting CAVs from information security threats than those who have not.