Instrument for the assessment of road user automated vehicle acceptance: A pyramid of user needs of automated vehicles

This study proposed a new methodological approach for the assessment of automated vehicle acceptance (AVA) from the perspective of road users inside and outside of AVs pre- and post- AV experience. Users can be drivers and passengers, but also external road users, such as pedestrians, (motor-)cyclists, and other car drivers, interacting with AVs. A pyramid was developed, which provides a hierarchical representation of user needs. Fundamental user needs are organized at the bottom of the pyramid, while higher-level user needs are at the top of the pyramid. The pyramid distinguishes between six levels of needs, which are safety trust, efficiency, comfort and pleasure, social influence, and well-being. Some user needs universally exist across users, while some are user-specific needs. These needs are translated into operationalizable indicators representing items of a questionnaire for the assessment of AVA of users inside and outside AVs. The formulation of the questionnaire items was derived from established technology acceptance models. As the instrument was based on the same model for all road users, the comparison of AVA between different road users is now possible. We recommend future research to validate this questionnaire, administering it in studies to contribute to the development of a short, efficient, and standardized metric for the assessment of AVA.