Quasi-Experiment to Assess the Role of Real-Life Tests for the Acceptance of Technology for Mobility as a Service

Abstract

New technologies like autonomous vehicles (AVs), grouped under the concept of mobility as a service (MaaS), provide new experiences for users. To be considered as an innovation, these technologies must be accepted and adopted by users. AVs provide a public transport service in a new manner, without a service provider or driver. This kind of service is called self-service. For this research, the acceptance and adoption of AVs is investigated in a touristic ecosystem in the context of a post-COVID era. This chapter presents the result of a quasi-experiment conducted in Switzerland with students that testing an AV enhanced the user acceptance of this technology for the first and last mile of a journey (FMLM) in a touristic context. To this end, they used a revised model of the technology acceptance model (TAM) and administered the same questionnaire before and after the test of an AV. In the context of a post-COVID era, AVs could provide solutions for personal mobility for long distance as well. However, it will be necessary to provide a test-bench for these new services.