Public opinion on connected and automated vehicles: The Czech context

Abstract

Despite limited experience with Connected and automated vehicles (CAVs), the general public has been developing beliefs and attitudes about them. These expected benefits, concerns, trust, and other psychological factors play an important role in the way of accepting and adopting this new technology and as such should be available to various stakeholders. This study surveys the Czech public perceptions and attitudes relevant to policy-making in the area of CAVs. Between November 2017 and January 2018, a representative survey was conducted among the general population in the Czech Republic. Overall, 1 065 randomly selected persons aged above 15 were personally interviewed. The sample, there were 523 (49%) women; the average age was 50 years (SD = 17). Results showed that more than 65% of participants (i.e. 693) heard about CAVs before the survey. At the same time, 87% of the respondents with previous knowledge of the topic (i.e. 586) declared only limited awareness regarding CAVs. When it comes to the general opinion on CAVs, almost 40% of the respondents stated "rather positive" or "very positive" view. Also, more than 50% of the respondents associated wide usage of CAVs with better traffic safety. The majority of those sharing the negative opinion was members of an older generation, achieved a lower educational level and having lower household income. When it comes to the policy recommendations, the first wave of implementation should focus on applications in the more structured and controlled environment such as airports or metro.