Willingness to pay for self-driving vehicles: Influences of demographic and psychological factors

Research on willingness to pay (WTP) can provide practical insights for assessing the value of self-driving vehicle (SDV) technology in the vehicle market. Are people willing to pay extra for the technology? What demographic and psychological factors can influence people's WTP for this technology? These questions are not yet well investigated. We conducted surveys in two cities in China (total N = 1355) and examined WTP and its potential demographic determinants (familiarity, age, gender, education, and income) and psychological determinants (perceived benefit and risk of SDVs, anticipated perceived dread riding in SDVs, and trust in SDVs). About 26.3% of participants were unwilling to pay extra, 39.3% were willing to pay less than $2900, and the remaining 34.3% were willing to pay more than $2900. Younger and highly educated participants with higher-income were willing to pay more. Participants who had heard about SDVs before the survey reported higher WTP and higher trust and perceived higher benefits, lower risks, and lower dread. Trust and perceived benefit were positive predictors of WTP and perceived risk and perceived dread were negative predictors of WTP. Our results may offer practical implications for increasing the public's acceptance and WTP of SDVs.