Abstract
As driverless vehicles proliferate, it is possible that this technology will be applied in mass transport vehicles. School buses may be suited for autonomous operations as they follow set routes and schedules. However, a research gap exists in whether or not parents would be willing to have their children ride in autonomously operated school buses. The purpose of this study was to examine parents’ willingness to allow their child to ride in an autonomous school bus. Participant gender and nationality were also two independent variables, along with affect measures as a possible mediating variable. The research used a two-study approach. In study one, it was found that participants were less willing to have their child ride in a driverless school bus than a traditional human-operated vehicle. In study two, findings suggest a significant interaction between the type of driver, participant gender, and nationality. In general, American females were less willing than Indian females and overall, Americans were less willing than Indians in the driverless conditions. Affect was found to be a mediating variable, which suggests that emotions were playing a role in the responses of participants. The paper concludes with theoretical contributions, practical applications, and suggestions for future research.
Highlights
Introduction and BackgroundAs technology advances to allow for the integration of automation into daily life, consumers face the eventual reality that is driverless vehicles
The current research builds upon these previous studies, aiming to understand the willingness of parents to let their children ride in driverless school buses
The findings from Study 1 strongly supported our hypothesis; parents are less willing to allow their child to ride in a school bus when operated autonomously, compared to when a human driver is in control
Summary
As technology advances to allow for the integration of automation into daily life, consumers face the eventual reality that is driverless vehicles. This technology is still relatively new and rarely used in commercial settings for public consumption. In Study 1, we determined if a driverless school bus would cause parents to be less willing to allow their child on board compared to a school bus driven by a traditional licensed human driver. Participants will be less willing to allow their children to ride in driverless school buses compared to traditional school buses with a human driver, replicating the results of study one
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