Measuring User Acceptance of and Willingness-to-Pay for CVI Technology

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Date
2016-09-30
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Volume Title
Publisher
Connected Vehicle/Infrastructure University Transportation Center
Abstract

The increased prevalence of Connected Vehicles (CVs) is expected to provide significant safety benefits to roadway users. Estimates indicate that the use of CVs will reduce non-impaired driver crashes by 80 percent. To ensure that the full benefits of CVs are realized, it is critical for transportation professionals to develop effective deployment strategies. However, the large number of unknowns currently makes this difficult. For instance, there are (1) no clear-cut deployment strategies due to a methodological void; (2) overly optimistic adoption estimates; and (3) no unified roadmaps to which state and local governments must conform. Current studies suggest that understanding drivers’ perceptions, needs, and acceptance of CVs will provide rich information for solving these unknowns. As price is a serious barrier to CV technology proliferation, the primary goal of the current study is to use an adaptive choice-based conjoint analysis to estimate drivers’ acceptance of and willingness to pay (WTP) for CVs through a simulation of participants’ purchasing decisions. Results show that, with regard to the acceptance of safety features, acceptance of “collision warning packages” was the highest. Comparisons of WTP considering several socioeconomic variables found that drivers between the ages of 40 and 49 years, African-Americans, those with less than a bachelor’s degree, and those with a higher budget for vehicle purchase were positively related to WTP. Results also indicate that, at every age, women are more concerned about safety than are men. While the study did not find statistical differences in WTP between men and women, women’s budgets for vehicle purchases were lower than men’s, and women reported significantly less prior knowledge of CVs. Also, women 50 and older appear less interested in CV technologies. As a result of these findings, the research team suggests that government agencies showcase CV technologies’ safety benefits via media catering to mature women and at family-oriented public events.

Description
Keywords
connected vehicles, market penetration, consumer perceptions, willingness to pay (WTP), technology introduction
Citation