Preferred level of vehicle automation: How technology adoption, knowledge, and personality affect automation preference in Türkiye and Sweden

Abstract

The acceptance of automated vehicles and advanced vehicle technologies by users is subject to different human factors variables. Personality, technology adoption, and prior previous knowledge about the systems have been significant determinants of people’s attitudes toward new technologies across different settings. The present study examined the effects of technology adoption, knowledge of vehicle automation, and personality on the preferred level of vehicle automation in Türkiye and Sweden. The study was conducted with 297 drivers from Türkiye (age: M = 22.47, SD = 2.83) and 332 drivers from Sweden (age: M = 30.06, SD = 10.48). Participants completed a questionnaire regarding technology adoption, knowledge and preference of vehicle automation, and the Basic Personality Traits Inventory (BPTI). The findings indicated that high technology adoption was associated with preferring higher levels of automation. Furthermore, drivers from Türkiye, in comparison to drivers from Sweden, and drivers with previous knowledge of high or full automation, compared to those who have not heard of these systems in the two countries, expressed a preference toward higher levels of automation. High extraversion and openness to change were associated with high technology adoption, leading to preferring vehicles with higher levels of automation. Overall, the results indicated that drivers’ knowledge of automated vehicles and general traits, such as personality and technology adoption, play a role in vehicle preference. The study analyzed the factors that affect user acceptance of automated vehicles and offered insights into their interrelationships across two countries with differing levels of road safety.

Keywords:

• Automated driving
• vehicle automation
• personality
• technology adoption
• vehicle knowledge

SUBJECTS:

• Ergonomics & Human Factors
• Applied Social Psychology
• Personality

REVIEWING EDITOR:

• Daryl O’Connor, University of Leeds, United Kingdom

Acknowledgments

For the purpose of open access, the author has applied a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence to the author-accepted manuscript version arising from this submission.

CRediT authorship statement

İbrahim Öztürk: Conceptualisation, Methodology, Formal analysis, Writing – Original Draft, Writing – Review & Editing. Henriette Wallén Warner: Conceptualisation, Methodology, Writing – Review & Editing, Supervision. Türker Özkan: Conceptualisation, Methodology, Writing – Review & Editing, Supervision.

Disclosure statement

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

Data availability statement

We make the associated syntax available on an open science platform, along with the preprint (https://osf.io/564d9/). For further information, please contact the corresponding author (I.O., [email protected]).

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by the Swedish Institute (SI) during the first author’s scholarship period at the Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI).

Notes on contributors

İbrahim Öztürk

İbrahim Öztürk, PhD, is a Research Fellow at the Institute for Transport Studies, University of Leeds. He holds a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Traffic and Transportation Psychology from Middle East Technical University (Türkiye). His research focuses on self-reported and simulated driver behaviors, traffic safety culture, and individual differences in driver behaviors and road user-vehicle technology interaction across cultures.

Henriette Wallén Warner

Henriette Wallén Warner, PhD, is a Senior Researcher at the Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VT I) and an Associate Professor at Uppsala University. Her main area of research is road user behavior with a special interest for vulnerable road users and road safety. She has published numerous peer-reviewed articles, delivered conference presentations in a dozen countries and on a regular basis been involved at peer-reviewing for scientific journals and international conferences. She is the President Elect of Division 13, Traffic and Transportation Psychology, within International Association of Applied Psychology.

Türker Özkan

Türker Özkan, Professor, is currently working at the Department of Psychology, Middle East Technical University. He also serves at the interdisciplinary program of Occupational Health and Safety at the MET U. His interests are related to cultural differences, the role of gender, sex, ‘extra-motives’, personality, explicit and implicit measures in safety in general and traffic and transport in particular. In addition, Dr. Özkan has publications about the acceptability of intelligent transportation systems, helmet usage and psychological models, seat-belt and childseat usage, development of psycho-technical assessment tests, organizational and safety culture/climate in hospitals, traffic culture and traffic safety culture, human factor issues among professional and train drivers and workers.