User Perceptions and Preferences of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems

The introduction of electronic advanced driver assistance systems (ADASs) in road vehicles is expected to improve traffic efficiency and safety significantly. Successful implementation of these systems in the near future will largely depend on the willingness of people to buy and use these systems. This willingness is explored by estimating a model that specifies how ADASs are perceived in terms of contributing to personal driving goals and how these goals, in turn, influence overall preferences for ADAS. Therefore, drivers of cars and trucks throughout Europe had been requested to complete a stated-preference experiment in which they had to indicate to what extent they perceived that various ADAS alternatives would change their personal driving goals. In addition, drivers were requested to rate the selected ADAS descriptions in terms of overall attractiveness to have the described system in their vehicle. Structural equation modeling (SEM) has been applied to estimate simultaneously how the ADA subsystems are perceived in terms of personal driving goals and how the personal goals and price, in turn, affect overall preference. The results indicate that the different ADASs have different effects on the various personal goals. Furthermore, the results indicate that especially changes in safety and comfort levels affect overall preferences and to a lesser extent changes in travel time while fuel consumption has the least effect.