Preferences Regarding Parking and Sharing Use for Privately Owned Autonomous Vehicles Based on a Virtual-Actual Experience

Autonomous vehicles are capable of automatically cruising and parking, presenting an opportunity for these vehicles to be shared with others during idle periods. This study conducted a face to face stated preference survey on parking and shared use of privately owned autonomous vehicles based on a virtual-actual experience in Beijing. Utilizing 232 valid samples, a nested Logit model was established to analyse the hierarchical choice behaviour regarding parking modes, parking locations and shared use of autonomous vehicles. The research results show that travellers with a favourable initial understanding of autonomous vehicles and a significantly improved perception of them after the travel experience are more likely to choose the parking mode of ‘Platform agency (parking + paid sharing)’. Travellers tend to prefer remote parking places that offer lower parking fees and higher reliability in vehicle retrieval when needed. Additionally, travellers are more inclined to share their autonomous vehicles when the vehicle-sharing service platform offers lower agency fees and higher sharing earnings and allows temporary vehicle retrieval. Increasing public sharing attitude and perception of autonomous vehicles through travel experiences and advertising can encourage more people to accept car sharing. These findings offer key insights into the factors that affect the market penetration of private vehicle-sharing services in future.