Who Has The Right of Way, Automated Vehicles or Drivers? Multiple Perspectives in Safety, Negotiation and Trust

Public opinion suggests that it is still unclear how people will react when automated vehicles (AVs) emerge on the roads. Fatal accidents involving AVs have received wide media attention, possibly disproportionate to their frequency. How does the framing of such stories affect public perceptions of AVs? Few drivers have encountered AVs, but how do they imagine interacting with AVs in the near future? This survey study with 600 UK and Hong Kong drivers addressed these two questions. After reading news 'vignettes' reporting an imagined car crash, respondents presented with subjective information perceived AVs as less safe than those presented with factual information. We draw implications for news media framing effects to counter negative newsflow with factual information. Respondents were presented with another imagined interaction with human-driven and AVs and did not differentiate between the two. Results from other variables e.g., first and third person framing, and cultural differences are also reported.