The effect of population age on the acceptable safety of self-driving vehicles

•Examine age differences in public responses to and acceptable risk of self-driving vehicles (SDVs).•The older participants (vs. younger) held a less positive attitude toward and acceptance of SDVs.•The older participants had a marginally lower acceptable level of fatality risk involving SDVs.•Older population might hold a higher requirement over the safety of SDVs. Keeping hands off the steering wheel poses a great safety challenge for self-driving vehicles (SDVs). Determining how safe SDVs should be before being allowed on public roads is a pressing question for all stakeholders, including the public exposed to the risk of SDVs in the future. The elderly may be major beneficiaries in the future age of SDVs. This research aims to understand age differences regarding the acceptable safety of SDVs and in affective, cognitive, and behavioral responses to SDVs. This study showed that the older participants implicitly required SDVs to be safer; their level for acceptable safety of SDVs was about twice as high as that for the younger participants in terms of fatality risk. Other age differences were identified, including that the older participants held a less positive attitude toward and acceptance of SDVs than the younger participants. We discuss the implications of the results for theory and practice.