Factors Affecting the Parental Intention of Using AVs to Escort Children: An Integrated SEM–Hybrid Choice Model Approach

Abstract

Automated vehicle (AVs) technology is advancing at a rapid pace, offering new options for school travel. Parents play a decisive role in the choice of their child’s school travel mode. To enable primary and secondary school students to take AVs to and from school, it is necessary to understand the factors that affect parents’ intentions toward the new school travel mode. This study has three primary aims: (1) Discovering parents’ intentions to escort children by AV and their potential determinants. (2) Constructing the Hybrid Choice Model (HCM) to examine the effects of parents’ socioeconomic attributes, psychological factors, and travel attributes on using AVs to escort their children. (3) Raising practical implications to accelerate AV applications in school travel. The findings suggested that knowledge of AVs is the most important factor influencing parental intentions. Perceived usefulness, attitude, and perceived risk had significant effects on parental intentions. The direct effects of public engagement and perceived ease of use on parental intentions were not significant. Finally, this research can provide decision-making support for the government to formulate measures to promote AV application in school travel.