The Impact of Peer Influence on Parent Willingness to Transport Children in Autonomous Vehicles

Abstract

When considering autonomous vehicles (AV) as a potential to increase the mobility of children, one must consider parent opinion, as parents make transportation decisions for their families. This decision making may be impacted by several factors including peer influence on technology adoption from other parents. The current paper examines the potential for the social influence of other parents to impact parent willingness to adopt AVs for their own teenagers. Early adopter status was found to be significantly related to willingness, while effects of sex and age were non-significant. These findings add to the literature that the perceived notion of being an early adopter of technology contributes to parent willingness to use AV for their adolescent children. Future research should examine social and technology readiness factors in the willingness and adoption of AV in children’s mobility from a family perspective.