Drivers’ attention economy and adoption to autonomous vehicle

Limits in attention restrict drivers from performing many desired non-driving activities while manoeuvring their vehicles. This constraint facilitates the use of transport services with autonomous vehicles (AVs). In this study, we interviewed 763 car drivers about their driving behaviour, their driving-based multitasking habit, and their driving-based smart device addiction. We constructed an integrated choice model with latent variable (ICLV) and identified the latent effects of two variables on both the preference for AV-based services and the value of travel time (VTT) at an individual level. Our results suggest that the multitasking habit discourages a driver from switching to AV-based services, while the driving-based device addiction encourages drivers to do so. This is expected, since drivers having a stronger driving-based multitasking habit are likely to be more capable of carrying out non-driving activities while manoeuvring their vehicle. As a result, skilful drivers may be reluctant to adopt an AV service. In contrast, those who demonstrate a higher level of driving-based addiction to their smart device are more likely to embrace AV services, since the addiction implies a desire to focus their attention on it instead of on driving. We found a stronger multitasking habit to reduce VTT in both AV and public transport services. In contrast, addiction to smart device increases generic cost, increasing VTT. We further investigated factors affecting how these two latent variables form and we identify young, male drivers (under 40 years old) that drive very frequently (> 3 times a day) should be the ideal advertising targets should AV-based services are rolled out.