Attitudes on Driving and Autonomous Vehicles

Do Austrians with a driver’s license prefer to drive the car themselves?

Autonomous driving is described by the Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology (2024) as follows: “The vehicle moves purposefully and independently from A to B without human intervention under all conditions, even in complex situations. There are no more drivers, only passengers. The takeover by drivers is no longer envisaged.”

Are there gender differences in the willingness to buy autonomous vehicles?

Participants with a driver’s license are less likely to ride as a passenger in a car than participants without a driver’s license. Interestingly, our results show that the majority of participants would rather not buy an autonomous car if they had the opportunity to do so. Gender differences also play a role in attitudes towards autonomous driving. In our survey, men are more willing to buy an autonomous car compared to women.

The survey was answered by 321 participants (50.8% female, 48.9% male, 0.3% divers), with an average age of 43.7 years (standard deviation 13.97).

Find the full study in German here!

published: 29.03.2024