How Consumer Experience Shapes the Adoption of Autonomous Technologies: A Longitudinal Study With Shared Autonomous Vehicles

Technological advancements are rapidly driving the automation and autonomy of emerging technologies, products, and services. Consequently, understanding the factors that influence their adoption is critical for successful implementation. Real-world consumer experiences can significantly reshape initial attitudes and influence the adoption process. This study investigates the determinants of adoption intention before and after first real-world experience with the technology of shared autonomous vehicles. Utilizing regulatory focus theory, we integrate constructs from technology acceptance, trust-risk and transformative consumer research. This approach allows us to assess the impact of perceived usefulness, technology trust, and subjective well-being on adoption intention. To examine individual temporal changes, we conduct a within-subject longitudinal study involving 148 users of an autonomous shuttle project and employ an evolution model approach for panel data. Our results reveal that perceived usefulness and technology trust remain stable antecedents, whereas the impact of subjective well-being diminishes with user experience. These results highlight the importance of stable technological performance and trust in facilitating the adoption of artificial intelligence-enabled technologies, suggesting that initial user experiences can significantly reshape subsequent usage intentions. Additionally, our study sheds light on the factors influencing these direct antecedents of intention to use.