Small and rural towns’ perception of autonomous vehicles: insights from a survey in Texas

ABSTRACTPeople’s perceptions of Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) are critical to understanding the role of AVs in future transportation systems. Most previous work on AVs perceptions is based on large cities or metropolitan areas. This study provides a unique perspective regarding perceptions of impacts of AVs in small and rural communities through an online survey in Central Texas (n = 1153). Our questionnaires gathered basic socio-demographic characteristics and AV impacts variables identified from the literature. We used summary statistics and ordered logistic regression models to reveal the perceived impacts of AVs. Residents of small and rural communities, particularly older adults (65 + years), were more enthusiastic about the development of AVs than the national average. Our findings reveal that being an employed, married male with a higher income increases the likelihood of accepting the impacts of AVs, suggesting further research to explore a feasible approach to utilizing AVs in small, rural communities.KEYWORDS: Autonomous vehiclePerceptionSmall townRural community AcknowledgmentsWe are grateful to Susan Chrysler, Stacey Alejandro, and Elissa Cuellar from Texas A&M Transportation Institute for their strong support during the data collection.Author contributionsThe authors confirm contribution to the paper as follows: study conception and design: M. Usman, W. Li, J. Bian, A. Chen, X. Ye, X. Li, B. Dadashova, C. Lee, K. Lee, S. Rathinam, M. Ory; data collection: M. Usman, W. Li, J. Bian, A. Chen, X. Ye, X. Li, B. Dadashova, M. Ory; analysis and interpretation of results: M. Usman, W. Li, J. Bian; all authors contributed to draft manuscript preparation, reviewed the results, and approved the final version of the manuscript.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional informationFundingThis study is funded by the Safety through Disruption (Safe-D) University Transportation Center (UTC), part of the University Transportation Center Program of the U.S. Department of Transportation.