An Exploration of Users’ Trust in and Willingness to Pay for Fully Driverless Vehicles After Their First Ride

Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) have the potential to bring in social benefits. However, realizing these benefits depends on users’ attitudes toward AVs. Previous research primarily relied on surveys and simulations to explore users’ trust and willingness to pay (WTP) for fully driverless AVs, which may not fully represent real-world experiences. Thus, for the first time, we invited participants to ride driverless AVs commercially running on public roads. All participants had no prior AV riding experience. During the experiment with a 15-kilometer urban ride, participants’ trust and WTP were measured before and after the ride. Unlike previous research, participants’ driving-related experience was not found to affect their trust in and acceptance of AVs. In contrast, the first ride experience boosted participants’ trust in AVs, and high openness in personality traits was associated with higher trust. The findings suggest that offering incentives for a first ride may increase participants’ acceptance of AVs.