How People Perceive the Safety of Self-Driving Buses: A Quantitative Analysis Model of Perceived Safety

Abstract

With the continuous development of automatic driving technology and advancements in related experimental research, the probability of traffic accidents caused by human factors has been greatly reduced. However, people are still cautious about the safety of automated driving technology. The purpose of this study was to investigate users’ perceived safety indicators and the psychological factors of their perceived safety judgment of self-driving buses. In this study, a structural model of the factors that influence self-driving buses, including behavioral intention of technology acceptance, trust theory, perceived risk, and perceived safety, was developed based on the technology acceptance model (TAM). Subsequently, a relevant survey of 215 respondents was conducted and analyzed using the partial least squares method. The results indicated that trust, perceived usefulness, and perceived ease of use were important factors for judging the perceived safety of self-driving buses. The structural model developed in this study can quantify and analyze user data to filter out the factors that influence the perceived safety of self-driving buses, which is conducive to improving people’s trust and acceptance of self-driving buses.