What Makes Futuristic Vehicles Risky? Preliminary Design Considerations Based on Automation Level and Driving Versus Flying Modes.

When considering novel, futuristic vehicle designs, it is important to consider the technology's “adoption potential”. Literature suggests that perceived risk is one of the key determinants of trust, which in turn affects adoption potential. Our research investigates how risky the general public perceives different design configurations for futuristic urban mobility vehicles, comparing highly futuristic flying cars to more traditional cars, while factoring in the issue of whether the vehicle is operated manually or autonomously. The initial results indicate that there is a combined effect of the level of autonomy and the driving mode of the vehicle on the way people perceive its riskiness. Further, the “exposure” component of perceived risk could be an important driver of people's judgments for future technologies. More research is required to establish the main drivers of futuristic, multimodal vehicles’ risk perception.