Analysis of the acceptance by Dublin's population of technological innovation by age demographic, using AV and SAV as examples

Abstract

Autonomous vehicle technology is the next frontier of Dublin's mobility sector, with plans formulated governmentally under Smart Dublin initiates for the introduction of this technology in the next 5 years(Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, 2018).For this change to be successfully implementedand accepted by Dublin's population, it must first be understood what influences acceptance of technological innovation. Within this study, a person's travel priorities, impression of AV technology and level of knowledge of said technology was examined in relation to acceptance. It was also examined across age demographics to garner a more specific understanding of acceptance tailored towards differentage populations. It was found that a person'stravel priorities and impressions have no strong relationship with acceptance of a technology for both Young and Mature adults. Prior knowledge was found to have a relationship with acceptance in the case of both populations, with less information causing more uncertainty in Young adults, and outright rejection of technology with Mature adults. Ergo, when making future mobility changes,public knowledge should be a main priority to allow for the most strategic and successful adaption of Dublin's population to said technology.