Perceived Risks of Autonomous Vehicles

Whilst self-driving cars are not vehicles of the future, but technology that is already available, their acceptance and implementation is heavily limited. People consider them as technology that has a lot of risk—be it technological, IT related, or even ethical. The aim of the present paper is to enrich the existing body of literature of risk perception—and in line with this technology adaption—regarding autonomous vehicles and how they are influenced by demographic and exogenous cultural variables. Whilst the effect of cultural variables on risk perception has already been explored by several researchers, the present paper shall be considered an expansion of those works, striving to address a particular segment of risk perception—the specifics of cultural influence on risk perception regarding autonomous vehicles. Whilst risk perception is of a multifaceted nature, the current paper does not aim to provide a comprehensive understanding of the complex phenomenon under scrutiny, but intends to highlight the potentiality of cultural influences besides the often-explored individual variables when it comes to risk perception and the consequent decisions and indicates that the cultural dimensions of Geert Hofstede use to create a better understanding of perceived risks related to self-driving cars.