The mediating effects of emotions on trust through risk perception and system performance in automated driving

Trust in automated vehicles (AVs) has traditionally been explored through a cognitive lens, but growing evidence highlights the significant role emotions play in shaping trust. This study moves beyond correlation to formally test the mechanisms through which emotions mediate the relationship between real-time AV performance and trust. We conducted an experimental study with 70 participants (42 male, 28 female) who viewed real-life AV recordings operating with or without errors, coupled with varying levels of risk information (high, low, or none). Participants reported their anticipated emotional responses using 19 discrete emotion items, while trust was assessed through dispositional, learned, and situational trust measures. Through factor analysis, 4 key emotional components were extracted, namely hostility, confidence, anxiety, and loneliness, that were influenced by risk perception and AV performance. Using mediation analysis, the extent to which four emotional factors explain the effect of AV performance on trust was quantified. The results show that real-time AV behavior is more influential on trust than pre-existing risk perceptions, indicating trust in AVs might be more experience-based than shaped by prior beliefs. The mediation analysis revealed major asymmetry in the power of emotional mediators: confidence emerged as the primary psychological pathway to trust, mediating 46.7% of the performance–trust effect. In contrast, negative emotions showed substantially weaker mediating effects. Hostility (11.3%) and anxiety (17.7%) were significant but substantially weaker negative mediators, while loneliness did not significantly mediate the relationship between AV performance and trust. Linear mixed modeling supported these patterns, confirming that unlike risk perception, AV performance and individual differences serve as the primary predictors of trust. These findings quantify trust’s emotional architecture, revealing that fostering positive emotional responses is more powerful than mitigating negative ones. AV development should therefore prioritize performance reliability and confidence building over safety communication or anxiety reduction.