It practically drives itself: autonomous vehicle technology, psychological attitudes, and susceptibility to risky driving behaviors

Abstract

This study examines how favourable attitudes towards autonomous vehicle technology and automation-induced complacency relate to unsafe driving behaviours using semi-autonomous vehicles as an exemplar. The sample consisted of 441 college students and a repeated measures design was used to examine the relationships between psychological attitudes and susceptibility to risky driving behaviours across three scenarios. Linear regression analyses were conducted for hypothesis testing. Study 1 showed that favourable attitudes towards autonomous vehicle technologies were not significantly associated with susceptibility to risky driving behaviours. Study 2 replicated this finding, however, automation-induced complacency was significantly associated with susceptibility to risky driving behaviours. Additionally, evidence was found for the incremental validity of automation-induced complacency over favourable attitudes towards autonomous features. In distinguishing favourable attitudes towards autonomous features from automation-induced complacency, future research and policy-making can separately address these constructs for the promotion of traffic safety and policy-making.

Practitioner summary: We aimed to assess inclinations towards risky driving behaviours in semi-autonomous vehicles. Using vignettes, we found that favourable attitudes towards autonomous vehicles are not associated with risky behaviours, but automation-induced complacency was. Our findings suggest policies like educational programs can be implemented to prevent misuse of semi-autonomous vehicles.

Keywords:

• Automation-induced complacency
• risk compensation theory
• semi-autonomous
• traffic safety
• risk-taking

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, upon reasonable request.

Notes

1 To ensure the construct validity of the measure, we conducted a confirmatory factor analysis after specifying a bi-factor (Chen et al., 2006; Holzinger & Swineford, 1937). As stated in the introduction section, we were interested in overarching favorable attitudes toward autonomous vehicle technology rather than specific sub-dimensions of the attitude because of the likelihood of confounding. Put differently, if one has favorable attitudes toward an object, various aspects of the object can be positively biased. Accordingly, we have specified an overarching bi-factor in addition to the three factors respectively indicative of technological advancement, traffic safety, and other (i.e., return on investment, environmental friendliness) factors. The model did not converge with the Study 1 data, due to small sample size (n = 102). Thus, it was conducted with the Study 2 data (n = 339). Chi-squared was 41.72 (df = 27, p = 0.04). Satisfactory fit was found with comparative fit index (CFI) = 0.99 and Tucker-Lewis index (TLI) = 0.98 that are greater than 0.95 as well as root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.043 and standardized root mean square residual (SRMR) = 0.03 that are smaller than 0.05 (Hu & Bentler, 1999; MacCallum et al., 1996; Mathieu & Taylor, 2006).